Stacey Konwiser, 38, had worked with Palm Beach zoo’s four Malayan tigers for more than three years and followed strict safety protocols, a spokeswoman said

Wildlife experts and police opened an investigation on Saturday into the death of a Florida zookeeper who was mauled to death by a tiger a day earlier, and said they would interview staff and study security footage of what happened to the experienced keeper, known to colleagues as “the tiger whisperer”.

Stacey Konwiser, 38, died on Friday after an encounter with a 13-year-old male Malayan tiger in the animal’s sleeping quarters, as she prepared for a public show. The death of the Palm Beach zoo’s head keeper was the first fatal attack on a human in the attraction’s 60-year history.

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At a press conference on Saturday, spokeswoman Naki Carter said officials from the occupational safety and health administration (OSHA), Florida fish and wildlife commission and the West Palm Beach police were on site and had opened an investigation to determine how, exactly, Konwiser and the 200lb tiger came to be together and the circumstances of her death.

She said the keeper had worked with the zoo’s four Malayan tigers for more than three years and had observed “stringent safety protocols” daily. “Stacey is an expert. She came here as a lead keeper [and] is proficient in working with these animals,” Carter said.

“This is an endangered species and Stacey understood the dangers that come with this job. She had a passion for this job and that’s the only reason you become a keeper. She understood that every single day she was putting her life at risk to save the lives of others, specifically Malayan tigers. She dedicated her life and she understood what came with that.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nina Blakeman, right, of the Palm Beach zoo receives a hug inside the zoo office on Friday. Photograph: Damon Higgins/AP

Carter added that Konwiser’s husband Jeremy, also a keeper at the zoo, had penned a tribute to his wife that was read to all staff at an emotional meeting on Saturday morning. She would not reveal what was in his statement but said: “As a zoo family we are mourning the loss of our lead keeper, and our hearts are with her husband. While we will never speak with her again, her memory lives on.”

Konwiser was airlifted with critical injuries to St Mary’s medical centre in West Palm Beach after the attack, which happened just prior to a scheduled 2pm “tiger talk” on Friday. She died about an hour later. Carter would not address speculation that medical personnel were delayed in reaching the keeper because they had to wait for tranquilliser darts that staff fired at the animal to take effect.

“The tiger is recovering from tranquillisers, is doing fine and is here at the zoo,” Carter said. She refused to address claims made on the attraction’s Facebook page that the animal had been or would be euthanised. “I want to underscore that the tiger remains at Palm beach zoo,” she said.

She said that the incident occurred in the tigers’ night house away from public view, and that the enclosure had surveillance cameras. “Guests were never in danger. They were led in an orderly fashion out of the zoo,” she said, adding that the zoo, which houses more than 700 animals, would not reopen this weekend.

As the investigation into Konwiser’s death got under way on Saturday, the Animal Legal Defense Fund issued a strongly worded statement calling on OSHA and the US Department of Agriculture to launch an immediate inquiry and impose “the maximum penalty” on Palm Beach zoo for what it insisted was a preventable incident.

“As long as employees are allowed to work in dangerously close proximity to tigers, elephants and other dangerous animals, a significant risk or serious injury or death persists,” the statement said.

“Since 1990 there have been at least 24 deaths and 265 injuries caused by big cats in the United States. These attacks, and scenarios where an animal escapes, have also resulted in the deaths of over 128 big cats, many of whom were endangered species.”

Only about 250 critically endangered Malayan tigers survive in the wild, Carter said. There are about 50 more in captivity in zoos in North America. Smithsonian magazine reported in February that seven people had been killed by tiger attacks in the US between 1990 and 2006. None of the incidents involved the four Malayan tigers at Palm Beach zoo.

Carter said that the zoo planned to set up a memorial fund in Konwiser’s memory to support conservation work for the species. She said a funeral service was being organised and that family members were on their way to Florida to grieve with her husband.