A Vancouver woman has been identified as the victim of a lion attack in a South African safari park earlier this week.
Katherine Chappell, 29, was killed on Monday after a lion attacked her through an open window of the car she was travelling in.
Originally from Rye, New York, Chappell lived in Vancouver, working in the visual effects industry. She posted photos of her leaving Vancouver's airport on Instagram roughly a week ago telling friends she was off to South Africa for a holiday.
She worked for Scanline VFX, a special effects company with offices in Munich, Los Angeles and Vancouver.
Her IMDB profile lists "Game of Thrones," "Godzilla" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" as some projects she’s worked on.
She is listed as working on the Game of Thrones episode “The Children,” which later won an Emmy Award.
In a post on Facebook, Chappell’s sister Jennifer paid tribute to her and said Chappell had been in South Africa on a volunteer mission.
“Katie was a brilliant, kind, adventurous and high-spirited woman. Her energy and passion could not be contained by mere continents or oceans. She was very much loved and shared her love for life with those she met,” she wrote.
An assistant operations manager at the Lion Park said the windows of the car Chappell was travelling in had been rolled down.
"They had their windows all the way down, which is strictly against policy," Scott Simpson said Monday. "The lion bit the lady through the window."
The lion responsible for the attack won't be euthanized but simply moved into another property away from tourists, he added.
With files from The Associated Press
