A volunteer had a face-to-face encounter with a lioness at the Idaho Falls Zoo

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – Imagine coming face-to-face with a female lion in its enclosure.

In an exclusive special report, news anchor Todd Kunz investigated an incident at the Idaho Falls Zoo that happened in early June. A staff member accidentally left the doors open to the enclosure, while a volunteer was inside cleaning. 

"A pretty horrifying thing. I couldn't believe it initially. you know, just the total shock. what's this? you know," said Bob Nitschke, who has volunteered at the Idaho Falls Zoo for 14 years.

He helped clean the cages and performed duties to support the zoo staff.

The morning of June 9, the double doors to the lion enclosure were left open by a zoo staff member while Nitschke was inside.

"How close was she to you?" asked Kunz.

"Well, I touched her with a shovel," Nitschke responded. 

"Really?" replied Kunz.

"Yeah. yeah. I was trying to make sure, no Kimani, no, and that was the only, only item I had. You know, I had a bucket to put the droppings in, but I had no other, so no Kimani, you know. So that's how it started," said Nitschke. "I was able to back down that hill, go to the base of the exhibit, work my way across the bottom, and then up the north side to get to the door, but she followed me. She was curious, you know. I want to make sure that the zoo is safer for the public and for anybody who works there. And that's my ultimate goal." 

Kunz went to the Idaho Falls Zoo to ask the executive director, David Pennock, what happened? How this could happen? And what has been done about it?

"So a lion and the volunteer were in the same space at the same time, obviously an extremely dangerous situation," said Pennock.

Pennock said there were at least three severe protocol breaches. First, the zoo staff member put his finger through the cage of the snow leopard enclosure to play with the leopard and the finger was playfully bitten.

"That by itself is a huge event at a zoo, at an accredited zoo like ours. It didn't cause a serious injury, just only minor injuries, but that there would be that contact with a dangerous animal in an inappropriate way is, is a very big breach of protocol. As a result, the staff member was a little discombobulated, a little, distracted. And as a result, instead of doing what he should have done, broke the second protocol just immediately reporting the event as it happened, he went on with his work and forgot to shut the doors as he was supposed to. And that's what caused the even bigger problem with the lion having access when the lion should not have had it," said Pennock.

Pennock said the reaction by the zoo organization and the city was immediate and transparent.

"From the time of the event until now, already we've instituted a bunch of things. We've reviewed all of our protocols, reviewed our training, changed some of the safety procedures and mechanisms," said Pennock.

The Idaho Falls Zoo informed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) as required. The USDA provides the license for the zoo to display animals. The AZA provides the accreditation. Pennock said the two organizations have not come to Idaho Falls to perform an inspection, but he expects they will.

"This event has impacted the zoo," said Pennock.

"Yes?" responded Kunz.

"It's impacted the zoo in a big way," said Pennock.

"Yeah," said Kunz.

"It's, although, as we've looked, we feel like we've had all of the appropriate training and protocols and facilities appropriate to keep this from happening. Still, it happened. Yeah, so it causes us to stop, to evaluate, and to look at how we can be better," said Pennock.

Nitschke has chosen not to volunteer at the zoo anymore as of now. The zoo staff member is no longer employed by the zoo.

The Idaho Falls Zoo has had two independent outside reviews and inspections of its protocols and policies so far. A third will happen in late September 2024. Pennock said the zoo's next accreditation process begins in the spring and is a very rigid and lengthy process for review, with the awarding of the accreditation happening in September 2025.

Kimani, the 21-year-old lioness, passed away June 26 due to complications of her old age.