'Why was my daughter in that lion's cage?' Agony of father of intern who was mauled to death as he reveals he 'had a premonition' of tragedy

Dianna Hanson was inside a 350-pound African lion's cage when it attacked on Wednesday



Lion was shot dead after police were unable to lure animal away from its victim

Investigation underway into why she was inside the lion's enclosure

Her boyfriend was the one to find her, as animal expert hints that maybe she was trying to show off for her boyfriend who was visiting from Italy



Killer lion featured on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show when it was a cub



The father of 24-year-old intern Dianna Hanson is now questioning why his daughter was even allowed into the lion's cage on the day that she died as only the owners of the sanctuary are typically allowed to be that close to the deadly animals.



'How she ever got inside the cage and why she would be inside the cage because I thought-- she made it real clear that they don't let anybody in the cage except the owner,' her father Paul Hanson said.



Dianna was volunteering at Cat Haven sanctuary in Dunlap, California and was mauled to death on Wednesday afternoon when she was in a 4-year-old lion's cage, even though she was not supposed to be inside.



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Tragic: Dianna Hanson died shortly after entering the cage of a lion in the California animal sanctuary where she was a volunteer intern

Killed: Dianna Hanson, a 24-year-old intern whose dream job was working with big cats, was tragically killed after entering a lion's cage at a California wildlife sanctuary in April

Her father said that while his daughter wasn't afraid of working with big animals, he always feared the worst.



'Anybody who works with cats knows that they are wild animals and they can turn even on people closest to them. So I always had this horrible, nagging premonition that I would get a call like this,' Mr Hanson said to ABC News hours after his daughter was killed in a California animal reserve.



Predator: Cous Cous is the 4-year-old, 350-pound lion who killed Hanson and then was shot

The investigation is ongoing about why she was in the enclosure even though she had just been volunteering for the facility for two months.



The person that found her was a young man from Italy who identified himself as Dianna's boyfriend.



'I always worried about her working with lions and jaguars and bobcats. But they were always very careful. She must be in shock. I just want to go to her,' he told The Los Angeles Times.

His presence has led to speculation among animal experts that maybe that is a reason why she would overlook the facility's protocols and go into the cage by herself.



'Its hard to say what she was doing in that cage, because she was by herself and from what I read this morning, early this morning hours is that her boyfriend or someone was there. You and I both know that sometimes we do something and we're trying not to impress somebody but to show somebody what we can do,' zoo expert Jack Hanna told ABC.



'My understanding is that their protocol is to have two or three people in there and they do feed the cat in a different enclosure so why would she get the key and go in there?



This is not the first time that the male lion, named Cous Cous, has made headlines, as he was featured on a segment of Ellen DeGeneres' talk show when he was only a cub.



A handler brought the then-3-month-old cub onto the show and the comedian cuddled with it as they both warned about the dangers of keeping such animals as pets since they are dangerous.



During his brief statement to the press, the owner of the sanctuary did not say why Dianna, who had only been working at Cat Haven for two months, was allowed into the animal's cage.



Back in the day: The lion that killed the intern appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show when it was a cub

Danger: During the appearance, Ellen talked about how lions like Cous Cous should not be kept as pets

He refused to take questions from reporters.

'Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family at this critical time,' said Mr Anderson.

Even though the local sheriff said that the animal sanctuary has a very good reputation with no prior security incidents, that will not stop the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the young woman's death.



'She should have never been in the enclosure with him,' Nicole Paquette of the Humane Society said to The Times .



'These are big cats that are extremely dangerous, and they placed a volunteer in the actual cage with a wild animal. That should have never happened.'



'Dianna really loved her six-month month internship at Cat Haven,' Her father, Paul Hanson, wrote on Facebook.



'She and I drove down there from Seattle on January 1 & 2. She was so excited at working in Cat Haven and living in California. Once there, she gave me the tour and showed me all the big cats there with which she would be working.'



Care giver: Ms Hanson started her six-month internship at the cat sanctuary in January, seen here with one of the tigers

Pleasurable work: In a message on Facebook Ms Hanson's father said that his daughter really loved the work she did for the sanctuary, she's seen posing before two cheetahs with a smile

The four-year-old, 350-pound lion named Couscous was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy after a worker was unable to lure the giant cat away from the young woman as she lay inside the enclosure critically wounded.



Cat Haven founder and executive director Dale Anderson was crying as he read a one-sentence statement about the fatal mauling at the exotic animal zoo he has operated since 1993.

Ms Hanson was attacked and killed when she entered the lion's enclosure, he said.

Ms Hanson's Facebook page shows previous work listed as an intern with the Snow Leopard Trust in Seattle, Washington while a student at Western Washington University, as well as serving as a research volunteer at the Soysambu Conservancy in Nakura.



Among her recent work listed was serving as a lifeguard and swim instructor. There she described her work as: 'I am here to save lives.'

Mauling: Ms Hanson was volunteering at California's Cat Haven sanctuary when she was fatally mauled after entering the cage of this 350-pound African lion

Work experience: Ms Hanson's Facebook page shows previous work listed as an intern with the Snow Leopard Trust in Seattle, Washington as well as serving as a research volunteer at the Soysambu Conservancy in Nakura

Mr Hanson said his daughter had loved lions and tigers since she was a little girl.

While studying at WWU he says she cared for a few animals owned by a family living near the campus, King5 reports.

Investigators were trying to determine why Ms Hanson was inside the enclosure and what might have provoked the attack, Fresno County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Collins said.

Fresno County Emergency Medical Services say they received a call to the sanctuary around 12.32pm on Wednesday but by 12.52 the call was cancelled because the victim had already died, the Fresno Bee reports.

Father's worst fear: Paul Hanson spoke to ABC about how he had a 'horrible premonition' that his daughter Dianna would get into trouble by working with big cats

The Fresno County Sheriff's Office explained their choice to shoot the cat in a news release following the attack, stating: 'Another employee had made several attempts to distract the lion away from the victim and into another enclosure prior to the deputy's arrival, but all attempts failed.'

The lion had been hand raised at the sanctuary since it was eight-months old, said Tanya Osegueda, a spokeswoman for Project Survival, the nonprofit that operates Cat Haven.

Cat Haven is a private 100-acre non-profit animal sanctuary just west of Kings Canyon National Park.

Tragedy: Cat Haven founder and executive director Dale Anderson was crying as he addressed the attack that took both the intern and the lion's lives at his park, pictured

Questions: An investigation is now underway into why the intern entered the cage of the four-year-old lion named Couscous photographed here in 2012

The site is about 45 miles east of Fresno in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

Since the property opened in 1993, it has housed numerous big cats, including tigers, leopards and other exotic species.

'This facility has a very good history,' Lt. Tony Spada of state Fish & Wildlife told the Fresno Bee . 'In this case, someone just got too close.'

The sanctuary boasts more intimate relationships with their cats, with videos showing their handlers interacting one-on-one with the animals inside their cages.

'We started the Cat Haven with the idea that giving people a better experience with cats, and hopefully they become interested when they see them and hear them and hopefully they'll want to take an active role in conservation for cats in the wild,' said Cat Haven's founder Dale Anderson speaking to Fox News in February.

The sanctuary is permitted to house exotic animals by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and is regulated as a zoo by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Killed: The four-year-old lion named Couscous, seen here with a female named Pely, was shot dead by emergency personnel responding to the scene



Human raised: The sanctuary says they raised the lion, pictured, by hand when it arrived at their facility at eight-months old

Results of the last 13 inspections by the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service show no violations dating back to March 2010. The most recent inspection was Feb. 4, USDA records show.

Despite state regulations that require annual inspections, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife most recently inspected the facility in January 2011.



'We have to do the best we can with the resources we're provided,' said department spokeswoman Jordan Traverso.

The inspector's written comments were 'facility in good condition.' The inspector checked gates, enclosures, water supplies, drainage, cleanliness, ventilation and the general health of the animals.



Department spokeswoman Janice Mackey said she was unaware if any state regulations would prohibit an employee from entering an exotic animal's enclosure.



She said each species is identified on the permit, and the animals must be used for scientific or educational purposes only.



'We don't allow them to be used as pets,' Mackey said.

Loved: Mr Anderson is seen scratching one of his sanctuary's lions back in February for an interview that he hoped would inspire others to get to know and help the giant cats

Actress Tippi Hedren, who founded the Shambala Preserve in Southern California, home to 53 seized or abandoned exotic pets, expressed dismay over the killing of the lion.



'It wasn't the lion's fault. It's the human's fault always. I've got 40 years behind me. I know what I'm talking about,' Hedren said.



A movie was made at Shambala several years ago and several people were injured. 'Two were nearly killed,' she said.



'Lions are one of the four most dangerous animals in the world. There is nothing you can do. When they get a thought pattern, there is nothing short of a bullet to the brain that will stop them,' Hedren said.



Nicole Paquette, vice president of the Human Society of the United States, voiced similar concerns.



'She should have never been in the enclosure with him,' Paquette said of the victim. 'These are big cats that are extremely dangerous, and they placed a volunteer in the actual cage with a wild animal. That should have never happened.'

Sanctuary: The Cat Haven sanctuary, a non-profit opened in 1993, is on 100-acres of private land, pictured, just west of Kings Canyon National Park

Officials at another big cat sanctuary, Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Fla., told The Associated Press last year that at least 21 people, including five children, have been killed and 246 mauled by exotic cats since 1990. Over that period, 254 cats escaped and 143 were killed.



Tatiana, a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo, was killed by police after jumping out of its enclosure and fatally mauling a 17-year-old boy and injuring two other people in 2007.



Cat Haven has housed Bengal tigers, Siberian lynx, caracals, jaguars and leopards of various types as well as bobcats native to the area. Anderson described the private zoo several years ago as one of a handful of facilities across the U.S. that has all of the big cat species in one place.



The facility's website says it promotes conservation and preservation of wild cats in their native habitats and offers visitors tours and educational outreach.



Anderson said Project Survival would investigate to see if the intern and the other worker who was on-site followed the group's protocols.

