INSIDE EDITION spoke to animal experts Jack Hanna and Jungle Jenny about the animal park intern who was killed by a lion.
A young woman stood in a cage with a huge, powerful lion.
Jenny Michaels, known as Jungle Jenny, encountered the 500-pound beast named Cous-Cous when she filmed a TV show about an animal sanctuary in California. Jungle Jenny's time in Cous-Cous's cage ended without incident.
But one young woman wasn't so lucky. 24-year-old Diana Hanson started interning at the animal park Cat Haven near Fresno in January. She told her family it was her dream job.
INSIDE EDITION's Megan Alexander asked Jungle Jenny, "When you heard about it, what was your reaction?"
"My reaction is, I'm shocked. It's very tragic. It's very sad. It did cross my mind that it could have been me," said Jenny.
Cous-Cous had actually been fed milk from a bottle on the Ellen DeGeneres show when he was a three-month-old cub.
Diana Hanson started interning at the animal park in January. She told her family it was her dream job.
Hanson was apparently attacked when she went into Cous-Cous's enclosure without the owner, which is strictly against the park's regulations.
INSIDE EDITION spoke with wildlife expert Jack Hanna who said, "I can understand that she might have gone in there to say, 'Boy, this is a beautiful animal.' Not meaning to do anything, but bam, it went off. And who knows what set the lion off? It's a wild animal."
Officials had to shoot the lion so they could get to Hanson, who was barely breathing.
INSIDE EDITION's Megan Alexander spoke with Diana's father, Paul, by phone. He said he's consoled by the fact that his daughter died doing what she loved.
"As much as I miss her, I know that she was happy," said Paul.
Paul told Alexander he had a sixth sense his daughter's love for big cats would not end happily.
"I've always had a premonition that one day I would get a call like I did yesterday, that one of the animals had turned on her," he said.
