A woman's trip to the zoo ended in horrific injury. A lion attacked and mauled her arm off while at an Australian zoo on Sunday morning. The lion attack happened at the Darling Downs Zoo near Toowoomba in Queensland.
According to reports, the woman was a longtime visitor. She liked to watch the zookeepers care for the lions. But a lion attacked her after she got too close for comfort. It appears to have ripped off her arm.
"This morning, a much-loved member of our family was watching keepers working in the carnivore precinct," the zoo said in a statement.
They continued, "This is something that she has done many, many times over the past 20 years. She is well versed in safety protocols around potentially dangerous animals. Inexplicably, at this stage, one animal grabbed her by one arm and caused severe damage to it. At no stage did this animal leave it's enclosure and there was no risk at all to staff members or members of the public."
According to zoo officials, they airlifted her to a nearby hospital for treatment. Despite the lion attack, she appears to be in stable condition. The lion never left the enclosure. There are no plans to euthanize the animal.
Lion Attacks Woman
One wrote, "So sorry for the injured lady. The lion seemed to do what a lion is taught to do growing up in life and you can't fault the lion for that. The question is WHY the lion did it. There is a great chance we will never know so all we can do is protect and help both the Lady and the Lion and get them through this. Our thoughts,and prayers need to be there for both the lady and lion, and everyone needs to learn from the incident. We are praying that the injured lady can be helped through life with being injured and that everyone understands that the lion is just being what it grew up to be 'A LION.'"
Another also wrote, "Wishing a speedy and hopefully a full recovery to the Darling Downs member. Unfortunately when you work with any animal regardless how many times you have done everything correctly, animals have a mind of their own. Sometimes those animals can cause a lot of damage. I hope the big cat is ok and will not have to be PTS."
