DUNLAP -- Project Survival's Cat Haven reopened Sunday to tears, hugs and remembrances of the 24-year-old intern who was killed by a lion last week after a door to a feeding pen was accidentally left open.

The sanctuary in the foothills east of Fresno had been closed since Wednesday, when Dianna Hanson was killed by the 5-year-old male lion Cous Cous, who was later killed by deputies so emergency workers could reach her.

Before reopening to the public, Sheriff Margaret Mims told reporters that deputies were still investigating, but said a door to the lion's pen was accidentally left open.

Hanson was following her normal routine of feeding the lions in a pen within their enclosure. Typically, workers would close the door to the pen before cleaning the outdoor portion of the enclosure.

"Right now it just appears as if it was not closed," Mims said of the pen door. "We believe this was an accident, an error."

Workers, including founder Dale Anderson, wore neon shirts Sunday that said "In loving memory of Dianna Hanson and Cous Cous." He said he wanted to commemorate Hanson, but get back to normal operations.

"Our business here is to save cats around the world," he said. "It's just the right thing to do, to open. ... I hope what we're doing here can honor (Hanson) and Cous Cous, too."

Workers -- many of whom have been sleeping at the sanctuary's dorm since Wednesday -- and a few dozen well-wishers and members of the public gathered for a moment of silence in the sanctuary's lobby shortly after the Cat Haven reopened.

At the lion enclosure, Pele, a female lion who shared the space with Cous Cous, stayed in a corner and repeatedly let out a mournful sound that was a cross between a bark and a cry.

"She's really upset," board president Wendy Debbas said. "She is missing him. She is calling him."

A worker sat outside the fence to comfort the lioness.

Hanson was at the bottom of stairs leading to the pen when the 450-pound lion mauled her. She died instantly of a fatal neck injury, apparently from a swipe of the paw, according to the Fresno County Coroner Dr. David Hadden.

Cous Cous then moved Hanson about 30 yards from pen's entrance, Mims said.

Investigators found Hanson's walkie-talkie at the base of the steps.

Hanson had been talking on the walkie-talkie to head keeper Megan Pauls before the attack, but Mims said Pauls had no reason to believe there was an emergency happening when the pair stopped talking.

Mims added that no cell phone was found in the enclosure. The Associated Press, citing Hadden, said last week that Hanson had been talking to the head keeper on a cell phone, a report that was included in The Bee's coverage.

After Pauls discovered Hanson's body, she tried to distract Cous Cous to keep him away from Hanson. A sheriff's deputy, not knowing if Hanson was alive or dead, shot Cous Cous and secured the pen. Mims declined to identify the deputy.

Anderson said the Cat Haven has been getting "nasty" emails from the public over Cous Cous' death, but he said he did not blame deputies.

"The sheriff's department did the appropriate thing at the time," he said. "We have no hard feelings to the sheriff's department."

Debbas led a tour of the Cat Haven, which was ringed with orange and black striped ribbons in Hanson's honor. Debbas shared more details about her life as the tour approached the enclosure of Tizzy, the snow leopard -- Hanson's favorite cat.

"Dianna had one of the biggest personalities I'd come across in a young person," she said. "She was like Weird Al (Yankovic), she made parody songs for all of the cats.

Hanson frequently went jogging past the snow leopard, who would run up to the cage and run alongside her briefly, Debbas said. Hanson was so strong she once shimmied up a telephone pole in the Russian leopard enclosure with a Christmas tree in one hand. The cats were locked up and the tree was for them to play with later.

Hanson had worked at the sanctuary since January, one of many places she had worked with big cats, and Debbas had hoped to get her a job at a cheetah center in Africa.

Debbas also read a letter from Hanson's mother, Donna Anderson.

Anderson said she wished the Cat Haven would continue its mission of "saving my daughter's beloved creatures." She asked people to donate to the Cat Haven and other organizations Hanson had worked with over the years, including Soysambu Conservancy, AKRE Tiger Sanctuary, Snow Leopard Trust, Tembo Trading Company and Seattle PAWS Animal Shelter. Donations can be made on the Cat Haven website at CatHaven.com.

"I can't say enough about her parents being more than gracious, not looking to place blame," Debbas said.

About 700 people flocked to Cat Haven from about 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Typically, the sanctuary draws about 100 to 150 people on a Sunday, said Anderson.

Visitors quietly mingled in the lobby afterward, including Barbara Elam of Ft. Wayne, Ind. Elam was visiting her grandson in Fresno and decided to come up for the moment of silence after hearing about the deaths of Hanson and Cous Cous.

"We wanted to be part of that, to show our support," she said. "It saddened me so much that both of them died."