Sanctuary: Gate worked properly in cougar attack

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The owners of a suburban Portland wild cat sanctuary where a longtime employee was killed by a cougar this weekend said Tuesday that a gate to a smaller cage where the animals should've been locked up was operating properly.

WildCat Haven in Sherwood said its head keeper, 36-year-old Renee Radziwon of Portland, broke a safety protocol that calls for two qualified workers in an enclosure with animals. Radziwon was alone, cleaning the main enclosure when one of the cougars attacked her Saturday.

Two cougars were found roaming freely in the main enclosure where Radziwon was mauled to death, WildCat Haven said in a statement. Another cougar was secured in the smaller, 15-by-15 cage within the enclosure.

Autopsy results showed Radziwon died at the scene of multiple bite wounds concentrated on her head and neck.

Her death was eerily similar to that of 24-year-old Dianna Hanson, who was killed by a lion at a wild cat park in central California earlier this year. Hanson also was killed while cleaning an enclosure.

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Wayward seal shows up at Mercy Hospital entrance

By David Hench dhench@mainetoday.com

Staff Writer

PORTLAND — Mercy Hospital had an unusual visitor early Friday: a young gray seal that managed to negotiate the Fore River Parkway and climb the hill to the hospital's main entrance.

The young gray seal that was found on the doorstep of Mercy Hospital in Portland early Friday morning.

A gray seal makes its way back to the Fore River after showing up on the doorstep of Mercy Hospital in Portland on Friday.

The seal was discovered about 4 a.m. by a crew with Seabreeze Property Service, which maintains the hospital grounds and was there to clear snow.

"When I first saw it, it looked like somebody snuggled up in a blanket, wiggling around," said Mike Therrien of Buxton, who works with the company.

Therrien said the seal, almost 3 feet long, appeared to be bleeding slightly from the mouth. That may have been because the seal was eating snow and ice, the workers were told later.

When the female, only a few months old, started working her way farther inland, Therrien and three other workers blocked its path.

"We sort of guided it back down the hill," across the street and into the Fore River, he said. "It lunged a few times at my shovel."

The seal seemed to resist the bare pavement, but when the workers used shovels to put snow in front of it, the seal quickly slid over it, he said.

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