Escaped lion kills worker

A lion killed an intern at a North Carolina wildlife conservatory on Sunday after it escaped from a locked space. Alexandra Black, 22, of New Palestine, Ind., was attacked by the lion at the Conservators Center in Caswell County while cleaning an enclosure. Black graduated from Indiana University in May with a degree in animal behavior and had been working at the center for about two weeks. It is unclear how the lion escaped during the routine cleaning, the center said in a statement. The lion was shot and killed after attempts to tranquilize it failed. “This is the worst day of my life,” said Mindy Stinner, executive director at the Conservators Center, which is currently home to 80 animals. “We’ve lost a person. We’ve lost an animal. We have lost faith in ourselves a little today.”

The facility, located about 50 miles northwest of Raleigh, was founded in 1999 and has more than 16,000 annual visitors. It is closed until further notice.