Renee was survived by her husband, Aaron Chapman, a former worker at the facility and their 5-month-old daughter, Noa Elise. (n.d.). Let's say there's 8000 big cats in the United States. If we guesstimate 30 incidences per year, that is .38% for the cats. When risky enclosure entering is attempted, handlers should be aware of the animal at all times. Incident frequency was charted by total per year [Figure 6] to get a sense of the trends over time, and for the two settings in which the majority of incidents occurred (zoological facilities and private non-professional settings). Throughout my research, unsurprisingly, as the dates got earlier, it became more difficult to verify the incidences. Zoological facilities had at least 5 big cat safety incidents per year in 15 of the 18 years covered, and 10 incidents or more in 6 of the 18 years covered. In addition, changes in technology as the world became more digitized over the study period mean that some information on older incidents may no longer be accessible or even kept on record, and there is no easy way to identify what, if any, potential data points have been lost. Diana Renner (30) was mauled by Clem Dubose's privately owned lion when she inexplicably stepped into the cage while Dubose and a neighbor were renovating the enclosure. The actual owners of the big cats were the next most likely group to get injured at 17.1%. When frequency data by year for both zoological facilities and private non-professional settings were compared to the total number of incidents per year [Figure 9], it was clear that incidents in private non-professional settings were usually a large fraction of the total in the early 2000s, but that after 2008 incidents in zoological facilities comprised the majority of big cat safety incidents. Pfaff opened the cage door to the jaguar enclosure and violated two zoo protocol rules in doing so. Fatalities are highly unlikely to not be reported, so they provide more nutritive information when comparing their occurrences by year. Each source was included because the organization compiling it has a vested interest in maintaining an accurate and up-to-date record of incidents involving captive big cats in the United States, as well as the funding and staffing to facilitate such an effort long-term. I was very, very lenient with adding incidences to the list. June 7, 1994 Miami, FL: A senior zookeeper with 20 years’ experience was mauled and killed by a tiger at Miami Metrozoo. It was claimed by investigators that Franzen's shiny costume might have triggered the tiger to attack because it hadn't seen it before. Swift action taken out by owners, staff, and authorities during the event of an escaped big cat(s) has kept incidents of the cats harming members of the uninvolved public very low—around 6 cases have been reported in the last 25 years. Figure 2. If we can secure that non-involved members of the public are rarely attacked by out-of-control exotic felines, this would make an unwanted encounter with a captive exotic cat highly unlikely to occur towards anyone that actively avoids zoos, private owners, and circuses. Groups like the Humane Society often paint the impression that tigers and lions are causally purchased by 'regular' people as one might a dog or cat. All of these numbers are approximations to account for any errors I might have made with the numbers or appropriate categorization, and the undeniable presence of less serious attacks that have not been documented online. 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