{"id":42819,"date":"2025-07-06T07:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T07:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/42819\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T07:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T07:37:11","slug":"woman-hospitalised-after-being-bitten-by-lion-at-darling-downs-zoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/42819\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman hospitalised after being bitten by lion at Darling Downs Zoo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">A woman in her 50s has been airlifted to hospital with significant injuries after being bitten by a lion at a Queensland zoo.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">It&#8217;s understood the woman has lost an arm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">In a statement, Darling Downs Zoo in Pilton, south of Toowoomba, said she had been attacked while watching keepers working in the carnivore precinct on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;This is something that she has done many, many times over the past 20 years,&#8221; the zoo&#8217;s statement read.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"EmphasisedText_quote__TE6kn\"><p>&#8220;She is well versed in safety protocols around potentially dangerous animals.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"lions lying down\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/22c2e8be51c72bca6888cdc23abe4f50\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Darling Downs Zoo is home to several species of big cats, (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The zoo said the bite happened when an animal &#8220;inexplicably&#8221; grabbed her by one arm and caused &#8220;severe damage&#8221; to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">They said the animal never left its enclosure, and there was no risk &#8220;at all&#8221; to the staff members or members of the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The zoo said the animal involved in the incident had not &#8220;recently cubbed&#8221; and would &#8220;definitely not be put down or punished in any way&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Emergency services were called to the zoo around 8:30am, where the woman was assessed and subsequently transported to Brisbane&#8217;s Princess Alexandra Hospital in a stable condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The zoo, which is a two-hour drive from Brisbane, is home to several species of big cats including lions, tigers and leopards.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Investigations underway<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"aerial view of investigators on site\" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/915d162067310a412d57a29bdee87354\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Investigations into the incident are ongoing. (ABC News)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">A spokesperson from Workplace Health and Safety Queensland said their inspectors were onsite and making enquiries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">Darling Downs Zoo said it was working with police and Workplace Health and Safety to establish how the incident occurred.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">They said &#8220;full details&#8221; would not be known until the woman could be interviewed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">&#8220;We are extremely grateful to the QAS, QPS and LifeFlight for their prompt attendance and to all of the people and organisations who have rallied round us with messages of support,&#8221; they said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph__iYReA\">The zoo was closed on Sunday, and will reopen tomorrow at 9am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman in her 50s has been airlifted to hospital with significant injuries after being bitten by a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,33605,33606,50,33603,33607,4797,4798,33604],"class_list":{"0":"post-42819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-big-cat","10":"tag-darling-downs-zoo","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pilton","13":"tag-princess-alexandra-hospital","14":"tag-qld","15":"tag-queensland","16":"tag-tooowomba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114805148459801734","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}