girls. she was really a tomboy and she stuck with that. that idea of tigers, tigers. all her artwork and pictures in her room were about tigers. and when she went to elementary school, in the local elementary school, her mother and i would go to parent/teacher conferences and she would the teachers would say, you know, your daughter has a lot of artistic talent, but the problem is, she only does the same subject, over and over again. tigers. and she just kept that obsession with tigers and then later, big cats, all the way through high school, through college. what really confirmed that it wasn t going to change is when she was in college at the western washington university in bellingham, she was up on a ski lift one day at mt. baker, where she was a ski instructor on weekends for a part-time job, and a little boy was sitting in the chair lift with her, and that little boy, she was trying to make conversation with him, asking him what his favorite animal was, and he said, tigers, li
when i was down there with her on january 3rd, we drove down from seattle together on january 1st and 2nd of this year and she gave me a tour of the place, and she gave me we went by the cage of the lion cous cous that killed her, and the tiger there and the other animals. and she said, those are the only two cages i can t go in and work with them directly. they don t let anybody in their cage except the owner. and she was a little disappointed with that, because she had hoped to get in and work with the tiger and the lion like she had in her bellingham job. but she was, you know, accepting of that, and she was able to play with cheetahs and the lynxes and the other animals. i couldn t understand yesterday how she was in that cage with that lion. the only thing that i could guess is, they would clean the cages of all the animals, every day, of manure, the lions and the tigers, they would be put off in a side enclosure when they did that. the only thing i can think of is, it got out o
cage except the owner. and she was a little disappointed with that, because she had hoped to get in and work with the tiger and the lion like she had in her bellingham job. but she was, you know, accepting of that, and she was able to play with cheetahs and the lynxes and the other animals. i couldn t understand yesterday how she was in that cage with that lion. the only thing that i could guess is, they would clean the cages of all the animals, every day, of manure, the lions and the tigers, they would be put off in a side enclosure when they did that. the only thing i can think of is, it got out of the side enclosure or somehow got loose or something or didn t go all the way into the side enclosure when she went in, because i can t imagine her going in there when the lion was in there, when the rules were that you can t do that. and you seem so you seem so calm. and i know that you re in shock, but do you feel any anger or
two months she has been there since january 2nd. i heard since she was 7 years old, she loved big cats. yes, about 7 years old, she just developed a fixation on tigers, especially tigers. and big cats in general. she used to tell everybody she was going to grow up and study siberian snow tigers in siberia. and then when she got older, in elementary school, every time we would go and see the parent/teacher conference, they would say, you know, she s a great artist. she s got some talent, but she draws the same subject over and over again, tigers. then when she went to college, she was a ski instructor for her part-time job on the weekends up at western washington university in bellingham. and one day, she had a little boy sitting next to her in the ski lift chair when it was temporarily stopped and she made conversation with him and asked his favorite animal, and he said, tigers like my grandparents had.
and really dedicated herself, you know, her passion for these animals then transcending into work that could be done to save them and make sure we can still have wildlife in wild areas. paul, i understand you said that your daughter told you she wasn t allowed in the lion cage. have you been given any information as to what happened yesterday or why she was in there yesterday? no, not yet. i just know she gave me a tour of the place on january 3rd after we drove down from seattle. she and i drove down together. that was the last time i saw her. and she gave me a tour of the place before i flew back to seattle. and when she gave me the guided tour path that you take when you go through all of the animal cages and enclosures there. when we go by the lion and tiger cage, she said these are the only cages we re not allowed to go in, the lion cage and the tiger cage. she was disappointed because she had done that for so long in bellingham. she said only the owner is