It took rescue crews 17 minutes to reach Stacey Konwiser after the zookeeper was attacked by a male Malayan tiger April 15 at the Palm Beach Zoo, according to records made public Tuesday.
Paramedics with West Palm Beach Fire Rescue were forced to wait while the effects of a tranquilizer took hold on the tiger and were not able to begin treatment on Konwiser until 2:12 p.m., according to the records, obtained by WPTV NewsChannel 5, The Post's news partner. A preliminary Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report said the attack occurred at 1:55 p.m.
Konwiser's death, which city, state and federal agencies are investigating, marked the first time in the zoo's 60-year history that one of its animals killed an employee. The zoo's four Malayan tigers — three males and one female — are considered by many its signature exhibit.
>> See a timeline of the fatal mauling at the Palm Beach Zoo
A fire rescue crew arrived at the Dreher Park site at 2:01 p.m. but the "tiger (is) still not contained," a first responder informed a dispatcher. A voice on the transmission can be heard asking for a SWAT team to respond, although that did not take place.
West Palm Beach police also arrived at the zoo at 2:01. At 2:06, the tiger was tranquilized but first responders were kept at bay "waiting for it to take effect before going to enter." Citing concerns about safety, the zoo chose to tranquilize the tiger instead of shooting it.
Six more minutes passed before EMS personnel were able to reach Konwiser, who had sustained a fatal neck wound, according to the medical examiner's office.
"We're making entry," a voice on the tranmission said.
Konwiser was taken by ambulance to a baseball field at Conniston Middle School about a mile away from the zoo and flown by a Trauma Hawk helicopter to St. Mary's Medical Center, 9 miles north of the zoo. She arrived at the hospital at 2:40 p.m., 45 minutes after the first 911 call was made.
The radio tranmissions are certain to raise more questions for the embattled zoo, namely why it took 11 minutes after the attack was reported before the tiger was tranquilized. It's also unknown why police, who arrived at 2:01, weren't in position to take action that could have possibly saved Konwiser's life.
A Palm Beach Zoo spokeswoman did not immediately respond for comment Tuesday evening.
The tranmissions indicate that rescue crews had little information to go on as they arrived. The zoo has come under criticism because the zoo employee who made the 911 call doesn't mention a tiger nor a zookeeper until 1 minute, 37 seconds into the call.
"We don't know if they're separated or not," a first responder said, referring to Konwiser and the tiger, later identified as Hati, a 13-year-old male.
At one point the dispatcher alerts EMS personnel that the incident involves a tiger attack on a keeper but adds there is "no further information."
Andrew Aiken, the zoo's president and chief executive, said in a prepared statement Friday that Konwiser entered a secured portion of the tiger night house while the 13-year-old animal was inside. The night house is a behind-the-scenes area where the zoo's four endangered Malayan tigers sleep and eat. Konwiser's actions were in violation of zoo policy, Aiken said.
"Under Palm Beach Zoo policy, zoo employees are never allowed to enter a tiger enclosure to which the animal has access," Aiken said.
Aiken referred to Konwiser as one of the zoo's "most senior and experienced animal experts," which has raised questions of how she could have made such an error.
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