Lion bites off arm of keeper who had been giving it meat

TAMPA, Fla. — A zookeeper whose arm was bitten off by a lion at Busch Gardens had been feeding meat to the animal as part of a training exercise minutes before the attack, park officials said yesterday.

Surgeons were unable to reattach Amanda Bourassa's arm after Sunday's attack, which occurred as she took her parents and boyfriend on a behind-the-scenes tour of the animal's sleeping quarters.

State wildlife investigators said witnesses indicated Bourassa, 21, may have poked her hand between the bars when the 364-pound lion grabbed her. Her right arm was severed near the elbow.

Busch Gardens officials said that the 12-year-old lion named Max would not be destroyed but that the amusement park's safety policies would be reviewed.

A spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission said an initial probe found no violations in how the lion was being caged.

Glenn Young, the park's vice president of zoological operations, said that before the attack, Bourassa and three other zookeepers were performing a routine training exercise with the lion to encourage good behavior during its health checkups.

The lion was ordered to lie down with his tail extended through the bars, a position needed to draw blood, Young said. No blood was drawn during the training, and Young said the animal wasn't agitated.

Bourassa rewarded the animal by tossing him bits of meat, and the attack occurred within minutes of the feeding, Young said.

"These are still wild animals, and they behave like that," Young said, noting that zookeepers are forbidden from sticking their hands into cages.

Surgeons at Tampa General Hospital were unable to reattach the arm, hospital spokesman John Dunn said.

Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, said Busch Gardens has one of the best safety records in the industry. Hanna's TV show, "Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures," often originates from Busch Gardens in Tampa.

"For the numbers of visitors and the numbers of animals they have, I would say their record is in the top two or three of all the zoological parks in the U.S., probably the world," Hanna said.

In 1989, an animal keeper was killed by a 2-ton elephant. In 1993, a rattlesnake bit a zookeeper, who survived. And in 1999, a woman claimed a Clydesdale horse bit off the tip of her finger.

"The first thing I tell people is a wild animal is like a loaded gun. It can go off at any time," Hanna said. "This is the kind of business we are in."