- The woman whose arm was mauled by a tiger GW Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma has been named as Kelci Saffery, 27
- Saffery released a statement absolving the zoo of any wrongdoing
- Zoo owner Joe Schreibvogel read out the statement at a press conference Monday
- Saffery says she put her hand into the cage instead of using the stick provided
- Schreibvogel says Saffery is one of his top employees
- GW Exotic runs a controversial breeding program selling tiger cubs to zoos
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The 27-year-old zookeeper whose arm was torn off by a tiger has been pictured for the first time as she vowed to return to tending the big cats at the GW Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma.
In a statement read by controversial zoo owner Joe Schreibvogel at a press conference, Kelci Saffery said she broke park protocol by putting her hand into the tiger's cage instead of using a stick - effectively admitting it was her fault she lost her arm.
Schreibvogel said Saffery is in good spirits and is hoping to make a swift recovery and return to work with the big cats.
'I broke protocol and stuck my hand in a cat cage instead of using the stick provided. The cat let go and pushed my arm back through the cage. This tiger was not aggressive towards me. I hope for a healthy recovery so I can return to work everyday with my tigers,' she said in a statement.
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Recovering: This is Kelci Saffrey, the
27-year-old zookeeper whose arm was torn off by a tiger. She has vowed
to return to the park
Attack: An employee at the G.W. Exotic Animal
Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, was injured when she was attacked by a
tiger at the park Saturday morning
Closed for a time: The zoo was expecting lots of visitors this weekend because of the cooler temperatures
According to KFOR, Saffery underwent surgery on her arm Monday morning and has lost only the tip of her ring finger. Doctors say she will remain in hospital for about two weeks.Her statement read:
'I Kelci Saffery release this statement to the press on October 5th. I broke protocol and stuck my hand in a cat cage instead of using the stick provided. The cat let go and pushed my arm back through the cage. This tiger was not aggressive towards me. I hope for a healthy recovery so I can return to work everyday with my tigers.'
'Her fault': The park's owner, Joe Schreibvogel,
said the employee violated safety protocol by placing her arm inside
the tiger cage. She almost lost her arm in the incident on Saturday
Joe 'Exotic' Schreibvogel, said there was 'no
other way of avoiding' incidents like today's other than 'handcuffing'
his employees' hands behind their backs
Schreivogel said Saffery was an exemplary employee. 'She was probably one of the best people I’ve ever worked with. Most dedicated. You had to force her to take a day off,' Schreibvogel told KFOR.
The tiger attack occurred at the GW Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood at around 10am on Saturday.
Joe Schreibvogel, told MailOnline hat the employee 'violated safety protocol' by placing her arm inside the tiger cage.
He said there was 'no other way of avoiding this other than handcuffing my employees' hands behind their backs.'
'All I can do is train them and work with them as an employer. I can’t babysit them,' he said.
'I can't babysit them', says Schreibvogel about his employees
The eccentric Schreibvogel, who sometimes wears sparkly clothing as he poses with his wild beasts, told the Mail Online that the animal would not be put down because 'it was not the tiger's fault.'
According to Schreibvogel, the employee had 'three comments' before she was air-lifted to OU Medical Center.
'She said it was her fault, that she wanted to come back to work and asked us not to release her name until she had spoken to her family,' he said.
The park was closed after the incident but reopened only a few hours later.
An update on the park's Facebook page said the woman was out of surgery and that her arm had been saved.
‘She has a long road of repairs ahead of her but this is a miracle and thanks for the prayers everyone,’ said the post on Saturday evening.
The park's owner said the animal would not be put down because 'it was not the tiger's fault'
Schreibvogel said he did not know why the employee put her hand into the cage with the tiger
This is not the first time the GW Exotic Animal Park has been at the centre of controversy, and the 54-acre park, which is located outside Oklahoma City, has had previous run-ins with regulators.
GW Exotic is licensed by the federal government because it's open to the public - charging admission to come very close to what Schreibvogel calls the largest 'refuge' for 'unwanted' animals in the world.
The park is home to nearly 170 big cats: lions, tigers, leopards, and about 800 other animals, including camels, monkeys and exotic birds.
He also runs a controversial breeding programme, selling tiger cubs - only to zoos, he says - for up to $5,000 each and, at the same time, cross-breeding exotics like ‘ligers’, a cross between a lion and tiger, and even what he calls a tuliger, a mix of a liger and a tiger, according to CBS News.
However, Schreibvogel admits he does not have a background in zoology or veterinary medicine.
‘I grew up a farm kid, and that's pretty much my background,’ he told CBS.
Over the years, GW Exotic has come under scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for concerns ranging from 'public contact with dangerous animals' to a 'lack of physical barriers.'
The park is home to nearly 170 big cats: lions,
tigers, leopards, and about 800 other animals, including camels, monkeys
and exotic birds
Records show that, in 2006, it had its license suspended for two weeks and paid $25,000 for 'facilities violations'.
It is currently under investigation by the USDA for the death of 23 tiger cubs between 2009-2010, according to CBS News.
The Humane Society of the United States sent an activist undercover into GW Exotics in 2011, posing as an employee.
The video, which the Humane Society calls ‘alarming’, shows Schreibvogel smacking a cub to make it walk and other tigers being hit and dragged across gravel.
In another incident on tape, a boy was suddenly attacked while interacting with a young tiger, and began screaming.
They say at least five tigers died at the facility during the investigation – two of them had been sick for months and ‘may have been shot by GW employees’, according to their website.
The society also says a number of visitors at the park have suffered bites from tigers, including one child whose bite became infected.
'Dangerous': Critics of the park, such as the
Humane Society of the United States, says several people have been
bitten by tigers at the park. But Schreibvogel says it is not true
However, Schreibvogel says that they have 'never had an accident here at this facility.'
'I most confident that our visitors here at the park are safe. We have spent milions on building our cages to where our park is safe. No one is allowed to go into a cage with an animal,' he told the Mail Online on Saturday evening.
According to Schreibvogel, today's incident should 'not reflect on exotic animals or on any zoo being safe or not'
'We don’t know why she stuck her arm into the tiger.'
Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society, says GW Exotic is ‘a ticking time bomb.’
According to CBS News, Schreibvogel responded to the comment saying, ‘It is a ticking time bomb - if somebody thinks they're going to walk in here and take my animals away, it's going to be a small Waco.’
He said: ‘I have poured my entire life into what I do, to care for animals. Nobody is going to walk in here and freely shut me down and take my rights away from me as long as I am not breaking the law.’
The owner says he has 'poured his life' into the park 'to care for animals'
A Waco-type tragedy in Zanesville, Ohio, in October 2011, saw the owner of an animal park, Terry Thompson, release 56 dangerous animals into the wild before committing suicide.
Forty-eight of his animals were eventually killed by authorities concerned over public safety, pushing Ohio lawmakers to author a bill restricting private ownership of exotic pets.
The Humane Society is currently urging the US Department of Agriculture to adopt regulations banning public contact with dangerous wild animals no matter the age of the animals.
Current regulations generally allow public contact with tiger cubs between the ages of 8 and 12 weeks, and encourage the reckless over breeding of tiger cubs and surplus of captive adult tigers.
Baby cubs: Current regulations allow public contact only with tiger cubs up to the age of 12 weeks
The HSUS is also urging Congress to pass H.R. 4122, the Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act to prohibit the private ownership and breeding of tigers and other dangerous big cats.
However, Schreibvogel says a ban would not stop accidents happening.
'You can ban public contact with animals till the cows come home, but that doesn’t mean it stops employees from breaking protocol,' he told the Mail Online.
According to Schreibvogel, the accident was 'not the zoo’s fault.'
'An employee made a mistake and we’re paying for it. She was an excellent employee, and she is more than welcome to have her job back.'
He said it was 'next to impossible' to hire more staff members because it was 'hard work' being employed at the park.
'You come to work here to clean cages and scoop poop. This is not about cuddling with full grown tigers, and a lot of people think that it is.'
'We have a high turn over because this is very hard work,' he told the Mail Online.
Schreibvogel said he is planning to release a six-song country-western music album, titled Joe Exotic – The Tiger King, with music videos, on November 15 to ‘help fund tigers in the wild.’
Schreibvogel says the accident was 'not the zoo's fault' and banning contact with wild animals was not the solution
The HSUS is also urging Congress to pass H.R.
4122, the Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act to prohibit the
private ownership and breeding of tigers and other dangerous big cats
Stable condition: A female employee was mauled by an adult tiger on Saturday but survived the attack and did not lose her arm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEW: 911 call released on tiger attack at GW Exotic Animal Park
Kelci Saffery, Tiger attack victim, GW Exotic Animal Park
UPDATE: – The owner of the tiger, Joe Schreibvogel held a press conference and says the victim of the tiger attack is in good spirits; laughing and joking. The victim, Kelci Saffery, admits that she broke protocol by sticking her hand through the cage instead of using the stick provided for her.
The tiger let go and pushed her hand back through the cage. She says the tiger was not aggressive towards her and she hopes for a quick recovery so she can return to work with her tigers. Saffery says the tiger bit her on the fingers of her glove and pulled her arm into the cage. As the tiger reached for her coat, both front paws did 90 percent of the damage.
She went on to say that at no time did the tiger growl or show any aggression during any part of the incident. She believes the tiger thought the glove and the coat were toys.
Doctors say she will be in the hospital 10 to 15 days and that they had to remove a small area of the tip of her ring finger.
The tiger was tranquilized and moved to another area of the park “off-exhibit” and will most likely remain there for the rest of his life.
Saffery’s statement read:
I Kelci Saffery release this statement to the press on October 5th. I broke protocol and stuck my hand in a cat cage instead of using the stick provided. The cat let go and pushed my arm back through the cage. This tiger was not aggressive towards me. I hope for a healthy recovery so I can return to work everyday with my tigers.
-Kelci Saffery
Joe Schreibvogel said Saffery was one of his top employees.
“She was probably one of the best people I’ve ever worked with. Most dedicated. You had to force her to take a day off,” Schreibvogel says.
He said they follow strict protocol. Critics, like Cynthia Armstrong from the Humane Society disagreed. She said her group did an undercover investigation in 2011.
“Our investigator found there were numerous incidents of employees inappropriately interacting with and being injured by the animals at the park.”
WYNNEWOOD, Okla. – An Oklahoma zoo worker whose arm was bitten by a tiger will underwent surgery Monday morning.
This time, it will be a minor one to clean out all her wounds.
The woman injured was Kelci Saffery originally from Honolulu, Hawaii. She is 27-year-old.
The tiger bite happened Saturday morning around 10:00 at the GW Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood.
The tiger’s owner, Joe Schreibvogel, said the employee stuck her arm through the tiger cage and was unable to get it back out before the tiger got to her.
The employee’s arm was not severed but was badly damaged.
She was flown to OU Medical Center where surgeons were able to repair her arm.
Schreibvogel appeared on The Today Show on NBC Sunday morning.
“I honestly think that the tiger is feeling a little bit of remorse this morning,” Schreibvogel said. “When you’ve been around these animals as long as I have, they do pout, they do feel emotions.”
Schreibvogel said the employee involved was also feeling remorseful.
“She said it was her fault, that she had stuck her arm in the cage and last night when I talked to her at the hospital, because was able to talk on the phone, all she could do was apologize for letting me down,” he said.
Schreibvogel said he’s often affectionate with the animals through the cages and while he doesn’t know why this employee stuck her arm through the cage, it has been a problem in the past for employees to be drawn in by their affection for the animals.
“It’s more than one occasion that when your back is turned, they try and get away with petting the animals because they obviously love the animals is why they work in a zoo,” Schreibvogel said.
“I’ve seen her arm. She’s able to move all fingers,” Joe Schreibvogel, owner of the tiger at G.W. Zoo, said.
The G.W. Zoo is home to hundreds of misplaced, abused or abandoned animals.
Schreibvogel said the tiger involved, simply known as “Tiger # 7,” will not be put down.
He said the employee will be allowed back, most likely on some sort of probation.
And he said without the quick medical intervention, she might not have that choice to make.
“With the massive bleeding that we dealt with yesterday, I would say if it wasn’t for the quick response of our medical team here at the zoo and the medical people from town with the ambulance and the helicopter, I would say that she’s extremely lucky,” Schreibvogel said.
The USDA will be in charge of investigating this incident, but right now, they’re not operating because of the government shut down.
According to the Humane Society of United States more than 300 dangerous incidents involving big cats have occurred in 44 states since 1990.
“Very serious animal welfare issues at that particular park. They continue to breed,” Cynthia Armstrong, Oklahoma state director for the Humane Society of U.S. said.
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