Carole Baskin and her Big Cat Animal Rescue in Tampa, Florida, went from practically unknown to celebrity status almost overnight thanks to the hit Netflix docuseries ‘Tiger King’ and her vicious feud with the show’s star, Joe Exotic. Baskin found herself under the spotlight once again when one of her cats took a bite out of a staffer’s arm and it sounds like she’s lucky to have made it out alive. According to the Hillsborough Fire Rescue, an emergency call came in around 8:30 Thursday morning from Baskin’s tiger sanctuary reporting an individual was suffering from a serious bite to the hand and an arm injury. Reports say that Candy Couser, a longtime volunteer at the sanctuary, stuck her hand into Kimba the tiger’s enclosure to open the door for feeding time, and the tiger bit into her hand and started thrashing. Carole and Howard Baskin say that Candy’s arm was nearly torn off at the shoulder. When other staffers ran onto the scene, Kimba released Candy’s arm and they quickly applied a tourniquet to the wound until paramedics arrived a short time later. Medics continued treatment on the scene while trying to stabilize Candy. She was transported to the hospital where doctors say that, despite the severity of the attack, she is expected to survive. The Baskin’s say that Candy was conscious during the ambulance ride and doesn’t want the tiger to be harmed. Kimba will have to be kept in quarantine for the next 30 days as a precaution. They wanted to make it clear that the animal was “just acting normal” because it was feeding time and there was food present.
It’s reported that at the time of the attack, Kimba was in an enclosure that is behind two doors that pull up. Candy opened the first door but the second door was clipped shut.
“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,” say the Baskin’s. “It is against our protocols for anyone to stick any part of their body into a cage with a cat in it.” Candy has been a volunteer at Big Cat Animal Rescue for three years.
