BURLINGTON, N.C. — The USDA completed its inspection of the Conservators Center following the deadly lion attack at the end of December.
Investigators say 22-year-old intern Alex Black was killed by a lion while trying to clean an enclosure on December 30th.
The report, completed on February 5 according to the document, has two lines:
No non-complaint items documented no this inspection report.
This inspection and exit interview were conducted with facility representatives.
Those were the same results from previous routine inspections from 2017 and 2018.
According to the USDA, when an inspection is conducted, an inspector must have full access to all regulated areas where animals are kept along with all records. Inspectors are to document an non-compliant items or issues that require correction and give the facility a deadline to make the correction. If there are repeat non-compliant issues, the USDA can take actions such as license suspensions; monetary penalties, letters of warning and confiscation of animals.
We've reached out to the USDA about what the completed inspection report means for the investigation into the Conservators Center. We'll let you know when they respond.
The Conservators Center opened back up to the public the first weekend of February. They'd been closed since the incident except for a brief opening for a tree toss event in January.