Handler Hospitalized After Lioness Attacks Him at Detroit Zoo

In Katie’s 15 years at the Detroit Zoo, the lioness has never been in close contact with her keepers thanks to a pulley system that remotely ushers the big cats from outside to their indoor habitat.

But for an unknown reason, the 16-year-old lioness came too close to her handler Saturday. Katie scratched and bit her keeper shortly after the zoo closed at 5 p.m.

The injured keeper, Brett Kipley, who’s in his 20s and has worked at the zoo for a couple years, was taken to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak for treatment of his injuries, which did not require surgery.

After receiving stitches, he was scheduled to stay overnight at the hospital, zoo spokeswoman Patricia Mills Janeway told the Free Press.

Zoo officials said they were perplexed by the situation.

"We don’t know what happened to allow the keeper and her in the same space at the same time," said Scott Carter, the zoo’s director of conservation and animal welfare. "We will be investigating what exactly happened."

Kipley used pepper spray to fend off the animal during the attack.

The lioness was placed inside the den, and no tranquilizer was needed.

Carter said in his 16 years at the zoo, nothing like that has ever occurred.

"We have a lot of processes and procedures in place to make sure our zoo is a safe place," he said.

Contact CHRISTY OYAMA-ARBOSCELLO at 586-826-7263 or arboscello@freepress.com. Staff writer Naomi R. Patton contributed to this report.

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