DUNLAP, Calif. (AP) — The Seattle-area intern fatally mauled by a lion at a Central California exotic animal park loved lions and tigers since childhood, "was absolutely fearless" around them and hoped to work at a zoo after her six-month internship, her father said late Wednesday.

"She was at ease with those big cats," Paul Hanson, a Seattle-area attorney, said of his daughter, Dianna Hanson, 24. "They liked her."

Hanson told The Associated Press that he dropped his daughter off Jan. 2 at Cat Haven, about 45 miles east of Fresno.