Lion ‘just playing’ when it attacked woman says zoo owner
Source: Ten News
A lion that attacked a woman at a Queensland zoo, leaving her with “macabre injuries”, was “just playing”, the park’s owner says.
Joanne Cabban, a school teacher, was mauled by the lion on Sunday at Darling Downs Zoo in Pilton, a small town in Queensland’s Toowoomba region.
The woman in her 50s, who remains stable in hospital, lost an arm in the attack that has shocked staff and the local community where the family-owned business has operated since 2005.
Zoo co-owner Steve Robinson confirmed the victim was his sister-in-law and she had visited the zoo many times over 20 years.
He said that although zoo staff were nearby, no one witnessed the attack near a holding pen and “it was all over in a split second”.
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“She certainly was not in the enclosure. Nobody goes into the enclosures with adult lions,” he said.
A lion keeper at the scene when the incident happened used a belt as a tourniquet. Robinson said the worker had saved Cabban’s life.
He refused to describe her injuries, saying that was: “Too macabre”.
The attack did not happen in a part of the zoo open to the public and there were no “stand-off fences” as it was an area where animal keepers worked.
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Robinson said the incident was “very raw” and he was still processing it.
“We’ve now got a lovely lady whose life has been altered,” he said.
Robinson also said he was not sure why the attack happened.
“The best we can come up with, at this stage, is the lion was just playing,” he said.
“[Why] she was playing with a human in that circumstance is yet to be determined.
“This is not a lion fault. Lions are lions. This is what they are.”
The zoo previously said Cabban was watching keepers work in the carnivore precinct when the attack happened, and she was aware of safety protocols.
Queensland workplace health and safety authorities are investigating.
The zoo, the major venue of its kind in regional Queensland, houses tawny lions and white lions, both species native to South Africa.
-with AAP
