TAMPA, Fla. – A volunteer almost had her arm torn off at the shoulder by a tiger Thursday morning at Big Cat Rescue, the Tampa animal sanctuary owned by Carole Baskin.
Big Cat Rescue confirmed the incident on its website, writing that the volunteer, who has been working there for five years, went against protocol by reaching into the cage during a feeding.
Baskin identified the volunteer as 69-year-old Candy Couser. Baskin said Couser’s arm was broken in three places and her shoulder was badly injured but she was able to move her fingers.
“This morning, during feeding, Candy Couser, who has been a volunteer at Big Cat Rescue for five years, and a Green Level Keeper (lions, tigers, etc.) for almost three years was feeding Kimba Tiger,” the rescue’s website says. “She saw that he was locked in a section that was away from where he was usually fed and radiod the coordinator to find out why. Kimba had been locked away from that section for several days as cameras were being installed there. She opened a guillotine tunnel door at one end of the tunnel, and when she went to raise the second door she saw it was clipped shut. This is our universal signal NOT to open a gate without the coordinator coming to assist, but Candy said she just wasn’t thinking when she reached in to un clip it. It is against our protocols for anyone to stick any part of their body into a cage with a cat in it. Kimba grabbed her arm and nearly tore it off at the shoulder.”
The incident happened around 8:30 a.m., according to multiple reports.
A Hillsborough County Fire Rescue public information officer told WFLA that “we treated the injury on scene and transported them to a local hospital. We would classify the injury as serious.”
Authorities weren’t sharing more details about the bite, citing HIPAA regulations.
Big Cat Rescue said that other workers rushed to help Couser, with one using his belt as a tourniquet as others called for an ambulance.
Volunteer injured by tiger at Big Cat Rescue. https://t.co/Ay83JdVcP6 pic.twitter.com/gUtAAr3QwO
— Big Cat Rescue (@BigCatRescue) December 3, 2020
“Candy was still conscious and insisted that she did not want Kimba Tiger to come to any harm for this mistake,” the sanctuary said in its online post. “He is being placed in quarantine for the next 30 days as a precaution, but was just acting normal due to the presence of food and the opportunity.”
The park is located at 12802 Easy Street in Tampa.
Baskin rose to fame from the Netflix docuseries “Tiger King,” and she subsequently appeared on this past season of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”
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