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CNN Live Today
Reporter Discusses Lion Attack
Aired May 14, 2002 - 11:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There are new details today about that lion attack at Tampa's Busch Gardens. Twenty-one year old zookeeper Amanda Bourassa lost her arm below the elbow on that attack. It turns out doctors were not able to reattach that arm. She was giving a private tour and apparently looped just her finger around a cage bar, and that was enough for the lion to grab on to and start the attack.
George Wilkins is a reporter with "The Tampa Tribune." They have quite a bit of information online today at tbo.com -- George, good morning. Thanks for joining us.
GEORGE WILKINS, REPORTER, "THE TAMPA TRIBUNE": Good morning.
KAGAN: First of all, what's the latest on this young woman?
WILKINS: She's still listed in good condition and the investigation is continuing by state and federal agencies into what exactly occurred.
KAGAN: But in terms of her condition, as I said, doctors are not going to be able to reattach her arm?
WILKINS: Definitely not.
KAGAN: And in terms of the investigation, looking -- reading the article online today, on "The Tampa Tribune" online edition, it looks like this happened incredibly quickly.
WILKINS: Lt. Steve DeLacure of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said it happened in approximately 30 seconds. And it might have been precipitated by as little as just wrapping the single finger around the bar of the cage.
KAGAN: And that Max the lion just kind of grabbed on to her finger and that was kind of all he needed to hold onto her arm?
WILKINS: As DeLacure said, that was a big enough target area for him to hone in on and perhaps pull the hand and part of the arm in through the narrowly-spaced bars.
KAGAN: And, as I understand it, there were other people there besides this young woman, Amanda Bourassa, and there might have been another employee. They were demonstrating how they take blood from a lion? WILKINS: Right. They have a process they do on roughly a weekly basis, where they withdraw blood from the tail -- a routine medical procedure -- and they extract the tail through the bars and then take the sample in that way. And several zookeepers participate in this procedure. And it was Amanda's job to feed a little meat to the animal to distract it while this process is performed by the other zookeepers.
KAGAN: So they're thinking maybe that the lion was just -- maybe even just responding to the meat flavor or the meat on her hand?
WILKINS: Yes. The lieutenant said that the scent of the meat could have been on the glove still as she put it up to the bar, and the animal just lurched forward.
KAGAN: Did what a lion is supposed to do.
WILKINS: Right. Busch Gardens doesn't plan to take any action regarding the lion. It will not be sold, transferred or euthanized.
KAGAN: All right, the latest from Tampa on that. George Wilkins, from "The Tampa Tribune" -- once again, their online address is tbo.com. Thank you for the latest.
WILKINS: Thank you, Daryn.
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