The 27-year-old zookeeper whose arm was torn off by a tiger has been pictured for the first time as she vowed to return to tending the big cats at the GW Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma.



In a statement read by controversial zoo owner Joe Schreibvogel at a press conference, Kelci Saffery said she broke park protocol by putting her hand into the tiger's cage instead of using a stick - effectively admitting it was her fault she lost her arm.



Schreibvogel said Saffery is in good spirits and is hoping to make a swift recovery and return to work with the big cats.

'I broke protocol and stuck my hand in a cat cage instead of using the stick provided. The cat let go and pushed my arm back through the cage. This tiger was not aggressive towards me. I hope for a healthy recovery so I can return to work everyday with my tigers,' she said in a statement.



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Recovering: This is Kelci Saffrey, the 27-year-old zookeeper whose arm was torn off by a tiger. She has vowed to return to the park

Attack: An employee at the G.W. Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, was injured when she was attacked by a tiger at the park Saturday morning

Closed for a time: The zoo was expecting lots of visitors this weekend because of the cooler temperatures

According to KFOR , Saffery underwent surgery on her arm Monday morning and has lost only the tip of her ring finger.



Doctors say she will remain in hospital for about two weeks.

Her statement read:



'I Kelci Saffery release this statement to the press on October 5th. I broke protocol and stuck my hand in a cat cage instead of using the stick provided. The cat let go and pushed my arm back through the cage. This tiger was not aggressive towards me. I hope for a healthy recovery so I can return to work everyday with my tigers.'



'Her fault': The park's owner, Joe Schreibvogel, said the employee violated safety protocol by placing her arm inside the tiger cage. She almost lost her arm in the incident on Saturday

Joe 'Exotic' Schreibvogel, said there was 'no other way of avoiding' incidents like today's other than 'handcuffing' his employees' hands behind their backs Schreivogel said Saffery was an exemplary employee.

'She was probably one of the best people I’ve ever worked with. Most dedicated. You had to force her to take a day off,' Schreibvogel told KFOR. The tiger attack occurred at the GW Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood at around 10am on Saturday.

Joe Schreibvogel , told MailOnline hat the employee 'violated safety protocol' by placing her arm inside the tiger cage. He said there was 'no other way of avoiding this other than handcuffing my employees' hands behind their backs'. 'All I can do is train them and work with them as an employer. I can’t babysit them,' he said.

'I can't babysit them', says Schreibvogel about his employees

The eccentric Schreibvogel, who sometimes wears sparkly clothing as he poses with his wild beasts, told the Mail Online that the animal would not be put down because 'it was not the tiger's fault'.

According to Schreibvogel , the employee had 'three comments' before she was air-lifted to OU Medical Center.

'She said it was her fault, that she wanted to come back to work and asked us not to release her name until she had spoken to her family,' he said.



The park was closed after the incident but reopened only a few hours later.



An update on the park's Facebook page said the woman was out of surgery and that her arm had been saved.



‘She has a long road of repairs ahead of her but this is a miracle and thanks for the prayers everyone,’ said the post on Saturday evening.

The park's owner said the animal would not be put down because 'it was not the tiger's fault'

Schreibvogel said he did not know why the employee put her hand into the cage with the tiger

This is not the first time the GW Exotic Animal Park has been at the centre of controversy, and t he 54-acre park, which is located outside Oklahoma City, has had previous run-ins with regulators.



GW Exotic is licensed by the federal government because it's open to the public - charging admission to come very close to what Schreibvogel calls the largest 'refuge' for 'unwanted' animals in the world.



The park is home to nearly 170 big cats: lions, tigers, leopards, and about 800 other animals, including camels, monkeys and exotic birds.



He also runs a controversial breeding programme, selling tiger cubs - only to zoos, he says - for up to $5,000 each and, at the same time, cross-breeding exotics like ‘ligers’, a cross between a lion and tiger, and even what he calls a tuliger, a mix of a liger and a tiger, according to CBS News .



However, Schreibvogel admits he does not have a background in zoology or veterinary medicine.



‘I grew up a farm kid, and that's pretty much my background,’ he told CBS.



Over the years, GW Exotic has come under scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for concerns ranging from 'public contact with dangerous animals' to a 'lack of physical barriers'.

The park is home to nearly 170 big cats: lions, tigers, leopards, and about 800 other animals, including camels, monkeys and exotic birds

Records show that, in 2006, it had its license suspended for two weeks and paid $25,000 for 'facilities violations'.



It is currently under investigation by the USDA for the death of 23 tiger cubs between 2009-2010, according to CBS News.



The Humane Society of the United States sent an activist undercover into GW Exotics in 2011, posing as an employee.

The video, which the Humane Society calls ‘alarming’, shows Schreibvogel smacking a cub to make it walk and other tigers being hit and dragged across gravel.

In another incident on tape, a boy was suddenly attacked while interacting with a young tiger, and began screaming.



They say at least five tigers died at the facility during the investigation – two of them had been sick for months and ‘may have been shot by GW employees’, according to their website .



The society also says a number of visitors at the park have suffered bites from tigers, including one child whose bite became infected.

'Dangerous': Critics of the park, such as the Humane Society of the United States, says several people have been bitten by tigers at the park. But Schreibvogel says it is not true

However, Schreibvogel says that they have ' never had an accident here at this facility'.

'I most confident that our visitors here at the park are safe. We have spent milions on building our cages to where our park is safe. No one is allowed to go into a cage with an animal,' he told the Mail Online on Saturday evening.



According to Schreibvogel, today's incident should 'not reflect on exotic animals or on any zoo being safe or not'.

' We don’t know why she stuck her arm into the tiger.'

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society, says GW Exotic is ‘a ticking time bomb’.



According to CBS News, Schreibvogel responded to the comment saying, ‘It is a ticking time bomb - if somebody thinks they're going to walk in here and take my animals away, it's going to be a small Waco.’



He said: ‘I have poured my entire life into what I do, to care for animals. Nobody is going to walk in here and freely shut me down and take my rights away from me as long as I am not breaking the law.’

The owner says he has 'poured his life' into the park 'to care for animals'

A Waco-type tragedy in Zanesville, Ohio, in October 2011, saw the owner of an animal park, Terry Thompson, release 56 dangerous animals into the wild before committing suicide.

Forty-eight of his animals were eventually killed by authorities concerned over public safety, pushing Ohio lawmakers to author a bill restricting private ownership of exotic pets.

The Humane Society is currently urging the US Department of Agriculture to adopt regulations banning public contact with dangerous wild animals no matter the age of the animals.



Current regulations generally allow public contact with tiger cubs between the ages of 8 and 12 weeks, and encourage the reckless over breeding of tiger cubs and surplus of captive adult tigers.

Baby cubs: Current regulations allow public contact only with tiger cubs up to the age of 12 weeks



The HSUS is also urging Congress to pass H.R. 4122, the Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act to prohibit the private ownership and breeding of tigers and other dangerous big cats.

However, Schreibvogel says a ban would not stop accidents happening.



'You can ban public contact with animals till the cows come home, but that doesn’t mean it stops employees from breaking protocol,' he told the Mail Online.



According to Schreibvogel, the accident was 'not the zoo’s fault'.



'An employee made a mistake and we’re paying for it. She was an excellent employee, and she is more than welcome to have her job back.'

He said it was 'next to impossible' to hire more staff members because it was 'hard work' being employed at the park.



'You come to work here to clean cages and scoop poop. This is not about cuddling with full grown tigers, and a lot of people think that it is.'



'We have a high turn over because this is very hard work,' he told the Mail Online.



Schreibvogel said he is planning to release a six-song country-western music album, titled Joe Exotic – The Tiger King, with music videos, on November 15 to ‘help fund tigers in the wild’.

