Tiger attacks Carole Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue staff member, arm almost torn off

One of the big cats of Carole baskin‘s Big Cat Animal Rescue in Tampa took a big bite in the arm of a staff member, and she looks like she’s lucky to be alive.

Hillsborough Fire Rescue said it received an emergency call around 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Baskin Tiger Sanctuary for an individual who suffered a severe bite to his hand, as well as an injury to his arm.

Carole and Howard Baskin tell TMZ … one of their longtime volunteers, a woman named Candy Couser, stuck her hand inside Kimba the Tiger’s enclosure, to open the door for lunchtime. .. and Kimba bit her hand and started beating.

We are told that Candy’s arm was almost torn from her shoulder. The Baskins say that when other staff members rushed to the scene, Kimba let go of Candy’s arm. Three employees applied tourniquet and pressure to the wounds until paramedics arrived approximately 15 minutes later.

The doctors continued the treatment at the scene, trying to stabilize Candy, then transported her to the hospital. Despite the incredibly violent attack, we are told that Candy should survive.

Carole and Howard tell us that Candy was conscious during the ambulance ride and said she didn’t want Kimba to be hurt. They say the tiger will be kept in quarantine for the next 30 days as a precaution – but add that the animal was “just acting normally” because there was food.

As you know … Baskin and his Big Cat Rescue rose to fame earlier this year thanks to the ‘Tiger King’ docuseries on Netflix and his feud with Joe Exotic.

The Baskins say that at the time of the attack, Kimba was in an enclosure behind 2 guillotine-style tunnel doors. Candy had opened the first one, but when she got to the second, he was nailed.

They tell us, “It’s our universal signal NOT to open a door without the coordinator coming to help, but Candy said she just wasn’t thinking when she reached out to untie it. C it is against our protocols for anyone to stick their body part in a cage with a cat in it. “

We are told that Candy has volunteered for 3 years at Big Cat Animal Rescue.