Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Fatal tiger attack prompts changes
Zoo adds cameras, locks at federal officials’ request
After a tiger killed a zookeeper in West Palm Beach last year, federal regulators called for safety upgrades to guard against future tragedies.
A year later, officials at the Palm Beach Zoo say they have increased employee training, added security cameras and installed new locks to improve safety at the tiger exhibit.
It’s not clear whether those new video and locking systems go as far as federal officials intended to keep tigers from getting too close to zookeepers.
To make the tiger exhibit safer, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration called for the zoo to start using video to track tigers and observe zookeepers.
The agency also advocated adding a centralized locking system for the animal doors, with a monitor to show what is open and closed.
On Thursday, the zoo announced that it had adapted “substantially all” of the federal recommendations.
Those changes include adding cameras in the behind-the-scenes tiger holding area that cover zookeeper access doors as well as doors used to transfer animals to other parts of the tiger facility.
Other changes include implementing a two-key system, which requires two zookeepers to be present to enter areas that could be occupied by tigers.
“Not a day passes at the Palm Beach Zoo without remembering the fine work and dedication of our late colleague, Stacey Konwiser,” Palm Beach Zoo President and CEO Andrew Aiken said in a statement released Thursday.
The information released by the zoo
Thursday evening came after repeated requests from Sun Sentinel for details about whether the zoo had made changes to the video system, locks and other features of the tiger exhibit to comply with the federal recommendations.
The zoo on Thursday couldn’t confirm that the technology upgrades included all the features called for by federal regulators.
While the zoo acknowledged adding more cameras, the federal recommendations called for installing “video monitoring equipment” that could both verify tiger locations and also enable the zoo to keep tabs on whether zookeepers follow safety rules.
Likewise, federal officials recommended a centralized system to operate animalaccess doors that would include an electronic display showing whether tigers are secured before zookeepers enter the tiger facility.
After a six-month inquiry into the tiger attack, federal regulators didn’t find violations that would have warranted issuing the zoo safety citations that could have triggered penalties and required changes.
Instead, in October they sent the zoo a “hazard alert letter” that called for voluntary improvements “in the interest of public safety.”
Because their recommendations were voluntary, they have no “legal reason” to verify that the zoo complies, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Federal inspectors still could return to the zoo in the fall to re-examine conditions in the tiger exhibit.
Zoos that fail to implement changes called for in warning letters from federal regulators put themselves at risk of getting citations and steep fines in future mishaps, said Debbie Metzler, who monitors zoos for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, also known as PETA.
“If a facility gets a warning, they should take it seriously and implement those changes,” Metzler said.
In animal holding areas that get sprayed with water during frequent cleanings, adding electronics such as a video monitoring and automated locks can be difficult, said Ed Hansen, CEO of the American Association of Zoo Keepers.
But Konwiser’s death and the federal recommendations that followed should serve as a reminder for zoos to enact more zookeeper safety training — and to consider updating older facilities, according to Hansen.
“What was acceptable when the exhibit was built sometimes becomes antiquated,” Hansen said. “Redesigns are obviously very expensive, but compared to a human life [the cost] is negligible.”
State investigators found that when Konwiser, 37, entered the tiger facility to get ready for a tiger show, a 12-year-old Malayan tiger named Hati still had access to the area.
Three doors had been left open in the tiger enclosure, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s findings released in October.
Konwiser’s screams attracted the attention of other zoo workers, who came running and saw the tiger standing over her with his ears pinned back and blood on the ground, according to the state report.
A medical examination later found that Konwiser’s neck was crushed and her jugular was severed.
Delays in controlling the tiger and getting medical help to Konwiser were among the issues investigated after the attack.
Instead of shooting the tiger, the zoo’s emergency response team first used food to try to lure it away from Konwiser.
Then instead of using a bullet and trying to kill the tiger, a tranquilizer dart was fired.
Zoo representatives have said space was tight and there was a concern that if a bullet missed it could have ricocheted and hit Konwiser. They also said they were concerned that a miss and ricochet would further anger the tiger.
After the attack, it took 17 minutes before paramedics could get to Konwiser. By then, she had no pulse, according to the state investigation.
The zoo last year had cameras in the tiger area, used for a breeding program. But the zoo said the cameras weren’t operating when Konwiser was attacked because the zoo had no tiger cubs at the time.
Konwiser helped create the operating procedures for the zoo’s tiger facility and was “extremely knowledgeable” about the risks the tigers posed, the zoo said in a statement issued after the attack.
“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?” the zoo asked in its statement last year.
Since Konwiser’s death, the zoo has started requiring that two zookeepers be involved in shifting tigers between locations within the exhibit and animal holding areas, which was one of the federal recommendations. The zoo also has increased training for zookeepers.
The zoo renamed its Malayan tiger fundraiser run, to be held May 20 at the zoo, “in honor of our beloved friend and colleague,” spokeswoman Naki Carter said.
A sign advertising the run greets visitors to the zoo. Inside, the tiger exhibit remains open to a steady stream of visitors.
On Thursday, two tigers flopped over in the shade while visitors used their phones to document every sigh and ear wiggle.
Then a roar heard from an unseen tiger in a holding area at the exhibit delivered a reminder of the wild side of the animals on the other side of the fence.
A display at the exhibit, with replica tiger teeth that visitors can touch, explained how a tiger’s “jaws kill with a single bite.”
The Palm Beach Zoo was re-accredited last month by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a nonprofit organization that monitors standards for animal care and zoo safety.
To maintain accreditation from the organization, zoos every five years go through reviews that include inspections and staff interviews, as well as an evaluation of zoo finances.
Even with improved training and technological improvements, the risk of injury and death should be a constant concern for people working with tigers and other wild animals, said Mark McCarthy of McCarthy’s Wildlife Sanctuary in The Acreage.
Tigers are among the two dozen big cats McCarthy cares for at his sanctuary west of West Palm Beach.
Zookeepers and other animal caretakers have to guard against thinking that they can get too close to what remain wild animals, McCarthy said.
“If the person doesn’t follow the [safety] protocol, it doesn’t matter,” McCarthy said about more training and adding automated locks and cameras. “You are still playing Russian roulette when you are handling those animals.”
“What was acceptable when the exhibit was built sometimes becomes antiquated. Redesigns are obviously very expensive, but compared to a human life [the cost] is negligible.” Ed Hansen, American Association of Zoo Keepers CEO