Florida zoo says keeper killed by tiger broke safety rules and entered enclosure with the animal

A week after a Palm Beach Zoo animal keeper was killed during a tiger attack, the zoo’s president said the keeper had knowingly entered a part of the tiger enclosure with one of the big cats in it — which is not allowed.

Friday night’s statement by Andrew Aiken, the zoo’s president and chief executive, is his first since Stacey Konwiser, 37, was killed by one of the four Malayan tigers on display at the zoo in West Palm Beach.

“Under Palm Beach Zoo policy, zoo employees are never allowed to enter a tiger enclosure to which the animal has access,” Aiken said in the statement.

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The statement was sent out along with a zoo-issued list of “Media Questions,” in which the zoo claimed Konwiser secured a portion of the tigers’ night house with one of the animals in it and then entered it, thus breaking the zoo’s established safety protocols.

“There is absolutely no mystery as to how Stacey Konwiser died,” the zoo said in the media communication. “The question is: why did a deeply talented and experienced zookeeper, fully aware of the presence of a tiger and knowledgeable of our safety protocols, enter a tiger enclosure into which a tiger had access?”

In another email sent Saturday, the zoo said zookeepers cannot lock themselves into a tiger enclosure because the enclosure doors only lock from the outside.

The zoo said video monitoring equipment installed in the tiger enclosure was not turned on when Konwiser entered the night house alone, because it is only used to monitor tiger cubs, of which there were none at that time.

After Konwiser’s death, the zoo said it implemented an “interim two-person system” for moving tigers in the night house, though it is not required by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

After the attack, the tiger was subdued with a tranquilizer, allowing officials to reach Konwiser. She was taken by helicopter to St. Mary’s Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Wednesday, the Palm Beach Medical Examiner confirmed Konwiser died from a neck injury.

The zoo has refused to identify the tiger, saying authorities were investigating threats made against the animal.

The zoo has also been under scrutiny for opting to tranquilize the tiger instead of shooting to kill.

Zoo officials have not disclosed how long it took for the tranquilizer to immobilize the tiger and let rescuers reach Konwiser.

The section of the night house that is off-limits to tigers has for years been used to take zoo supporters on special tours, the zoo said. Recently, the tours were extended to the general public for an additional fee.

The tiger experiences, now suspended, were 30- to 45-minute sessions that included a “behind-the-scenes look and training session” with a tiger and zookeeper.

“All such tours are carefully monitored and supervised. No visitors, guests or staff members are ever allowed to access any night house areas without zookeeper supervision,” the zoo said.

“We expect to resume all talks, tours and encounters at the appropriate time, as offering such up-close experiences is integral to our mission of inspiring people to act on behalf of wildlife.”

The zoo’s facilities, procedures and Konwiser’s actions the day she was killed are being investigated by agencies including the West Palm Beach Police Department, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“Over the next few weeks we will continue to meet with employees, OSHA inspectors, detectives from the West Palm Beach Police Department, Florida Fish & Wildlife officers, investigators from the USDA and our own internal investigative team to understand every aspect of this tragic loss,” Aiken said. “All of us share two common goals: to completely understand how this could ever happen and to assure everyone that this will never happen again.”

Piccardo writes for the Sun Sentinel. Sun Sentinel staff writer Erika Pesantes contributed to this report.

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