A trained tiger handler has been hospitalised with injuries to her arm after being attacked by one of the animals at an Australian theme park.
Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) says the woman, who is in her 40s, is in a stable condition after sustaining cuts and scratches while working at Dreamworld in Queensland’s Gold Coast.
“This was an isolated and rare incident, and we will conduct a thorough review accordingly,” the company said in a statement.
The popular theme park – which is visited by almost two million people every year – is home to nine Sumatran and Bengal tigers.
QAS said medics were called to the scene at 09:01 local time on Monday (23:01 GMT on Sunday) “following an incident with a tiger” and that the woman was immediately taken to the Gold Coast University Hospital, where she remains.
“She was quite pale and feeling unwell, but in general well and was able to be transported,” QAS acting district director Justin Payne told ABC News.
“She is one of the experienced and senior handlers there at Dreamworld… it’s good to see that she was able to be looked after by other support staff there,” he added.
Dreamworld’s Tiger Island attraction is one of only a handful of interactive tiger exhibits in the world, according to the theme park.
It opened almost three decades ago and hosts two shows a day in which onlookers are invited to watch the animals “glide underwater” in a splash pool, and eat their daily meals during feeding time.
According to local media reports, there have been a string of incidents in the enclosure over the years – including when a then-nine-year-old male Bengal tiger, Kato, bit two handlers back in 2011.
A Dreamworld spokesperson said that the company’s focus now was to provide the employee involved in Monday’s attack with immediate support.
