BASKIN TIGER ATTACKS

Cat nearly rips vol’s arm off at Fla. site

A longtime volunteer at “Tiger King” star Carole Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue in Florida was bitten by a tiger and nearly lost her arm Thursday, authorities said.

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue crews responded to a call around 8:30 a.m. at the Tampa facility after the feisty feline chomped on the volunteer, spokesman Eric Seidel told the Daily News.

Big Cat Rescue identified the victim as 69-year-old Candy Couser, who has worked at the sanctuary for five years. Couser was feeding a tiger, Kimba, when she tried to open the gate to the area where he was being kept which was “away from where he was usually fed,” a representative for the animal organization told The News.

Couser (inset top) broke sanctuary protocol and reached into the cage to unclip the lock, which is when Kimba “grabbed her arm and nearly tore it off at the shoulder,” according to the Big Cat Rescue.

Another employee pulled Couser away from the tiger and used his belt as a tourniquet, while another worker put ice packs around her arm “to try and save it.”

“Candy was still conscious and insisted that she did not want Kimba Tiger to come to any harm for this mistake,” the rep said.

Kimba has been put in quarantine for 30 days “as a precaution.”

Big Cat Rescue is closed to the public during the COVID-19 shutdown.

Baskin (inset bottom) made national headlines when her animal sanctuary was featured in Netflix’s “Joe Exotic” documentary, which has led to renewed interest in the mysterious disappearance of her husband Don Lewis, who was last seen in 1997.

Baskin, 59, also competed on the most recent season of “Dancing With the Stars.”