Tiger at Carole Baskin’s Florida Big Cat Rescue ‘nearly tore off’ volunteer’s arm
A tiger named Kimba at Carole Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue ‘nearly tore off’ the arm of a longtime volunteer on Thursday.
Baskin, the founder of the sanctuary, identified the injured volunteer as 69-year-old Candy Couser. She has volunteered with the sanctuary for five years and has worked with lions, tigers and the sanctuary’s other large cats for nearly three years.
The 3-year-old adult Bengal tiger bit Couser’s arm and “nearly tore it off at the shoulder,” Baskin said. He was one of three abused circus tigers that were taken to Big Cat Rescue last year after being rescued in Guatemala by an animal-rights group. Couser was one of the volunteers who helped unload Kimba when he arrived at the sanctuary.
Here’s what happened, according to an audio recording Baskin provided to the Miami Herald with volunteers telling Baskin what happened. Baskin also provided some information to the Herald in an email.
Couser was on her way to feed Kimba, whose typical meal usually is a “mush” of organs and intestines, and realized he was locked out of where his food was. Baskin says the tiger had been locked away from his usual feeding area for several days because cameras were being set up in the area.
So Couser went over to the other side and opened a tunnel door. The second door was clipped shut.
This is where Couser went wrong. She was at the wrong feeding lockout, according to the rescue.
“This is our universal signal NOT to open a gate without the coordinator coming to assist, but Candy said she just wasn’t thinking when she reached in to unclip it,” Baskin said in an email to the Miami Herald. “It is against our protocols for anyone to stick any part of their body into a cage with a cat in it.”
Couser reached in to unclip the door, and that’s when the tiger attacked.
Kimba latched on to Couser’s arm. The tiger dropped his grip when another worker ran over after hearing commotion, and Couser fell to the ground. The tiger kept pacing around her.
One employee later recalled seeing the arm “detached at the shoulder and that it was barely hanging on by a little bit of skin underneath,” according to the audio recording. Others said that Couser kept saying she “felt stupid” for what she did.
Baskin says that a staff member named Marc pulled Couser to safety and used his belt as a tourniquet while an ambulance was called. Another staffer named Gina, who is a nurse, tried to stop the bleeding and packed Couser’s arm in ice to try and save it.
The rescue at 12802 Easy St. in Tampa says it took about 15 to 20 minutes for paramedics to arrive. They treated Couser and then took her to St. Joseph’s Hospital, said Eric Seidel, spokesman for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.
He described her injury as “serious.”
Baskin says Couser was still conscious and the volunteer told the staff she didn’t want Kimba to be harmed because of her mistake. The quick thinking of the other workers probably saved Couser’s life and her arm, Baskin said.
Big Cat Rescue later posted an update online about Couser’s condition. Her husband said she can move her fingers, her shoulder is badly damaged and her arm is broken in three places. She will need surgery.
“She is conscious but sedated and when the Florida Wildlife officers visited her they said she was able to tell them what happened,” the update reads.
Baskin said that Kimba will be placed in quarantine for the next 30 days as a precaution but was “just acting normal due to the presence of food and the opportunity.”
“While it’s our understanding that the CDC could demand he be killed and tested for rabies, that’s unlikely given the fact that he’s vaccinated and Candy does not want him to be killed for doing what comes naturally,” the sanctuary said in its update. “Please keep Candy and her family in your hearts, as we will be doing, in hopes for a full recovery.”
Baskin also had a meeting with all of the rescue’s volunteers and staff members who were on site to discuss what happened. The rescue will offer grief counseling for those who need it. It’s unclear if Baskin was at the sanctuary at the time of the incident.
“This sort of tragedy can happen in the blink of an eye and we cannot relax our guard for a second around these dangerous cats,” Baskin said in a statement.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the animal attack.
The sanctuary has been closed to visitors because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is home to more than 50 lions, tigers, bobcats, cougars and other big cat species. All of the animals in its care “have been abandoned, abused, orphaned, saved from being turned into fur coats, or retired from performing acts,” according to its website.
Baskin, a longtime animal activist, found fame this year on Netflix’s popular docuseries “Tiger King” and was recently a contestant on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 10:25 AM with the headline "Tiger at Carole Baskin’s Florida Big Cat Rescue ‘nearly tore off’ volunteer’s arm."
