A volunteer at Carole Baskin's Big Cat Rescue has been mauled by a tiger and subsequently hospitalized with serious injuries.
According to a report by BBC News, 69-year-old Candy Crouser has been a volunteer at the sanctuary made famous by the Netflix documentary series Tiger King for the past five years.
Crouser was injured by Kimba, a male tiger rescued from Guatemala, on Thursday, December 3.
Indeed, an ex-member of Joe Exotic's staff recently starred in this personal injury commercial:
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Per BBC News, Crouser broke the rescue center's protocols by sticking her hand into the animal's cage, which led to the big cat in question grabbing her arm and nearly tore it off at the shoulder.
Crouser was rescued when another volunteer named Jane heard the commotion and ran to help Kimba dropped his grip. Other volunteers pulled Crouser to safety and made a tourniquet to stem the flow of blood from her arm.
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An ambulance arrived within 15-20 minutes of the accident, and Crouser was been taken to St. Joseph's Hospital. Kimba has since been placed in quarantine for the next 30 days as a precautionary measure.
In a statement made on Big Cat Rescue's official website, a spokesperson for the wildlife sanctuary wrote:
"The fact that, despite our intense safety protocols and excellent record of safety, an injury like this can occur just confirms the inherent danger in dealing with these animals."
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The statement continues:
"Candy's husband reports that she is going into surgery soon. She can move her fingers and her arm is broken in three places. Her shoulder is badly damaged though."
"She is conscious but sedated and when the Florida Wildlife officers visited her they said she was able to tell them what happened, which is what she told our volunteers who responded to the scene."
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Per Buzzfeed News, Eric Seidel, a Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesperson previously reported that someone had been bitten by an animal at the sanctuary. Seidel stated:
"We treated at the scene and transported the patient to a local hospital with what we would classify as a serious injury."