Animal caretaker attacked by tiger at Australian theme park, taken to hospital with serious arm wounds

Authorities said a tiger bit a zookeeper on the arm at an Australian amusement park on Monday.

The woman was taken by ambulance from Dreamworld in Coomera, Queensland, to the Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition, Queensland Ambulance Service director Justin Payne said.

Staff had the bleeding under control by the time an ambulance was called to Dreamworld just before 9 a.m., Payne said. The theme park opens to the public at 10 a.m.

“We were informed that a 47-year-old woman, an experienced trainer, had been bitten by one of the tigers at this location,” Payne said.

“The patient had apparently sustained several serious cuts and puncture wounds from the animal. She was quite pale and unwell, but generally well,” Payne added.

The amusement park, which features both rides and animal exhibits, in a statement called the attack an “isolated and rare incident” that would be investigated.

Dreamworld, located in Australia’s tourist hub, the Gold Coast, is the largest amusement park in the country.

The park’s “Tiger Island” claims to be home to nine Sumatran and Bengal tigers. The park’s website encourages viewers to “stand in awe of their might and raw power as they feed.”

Tiger attacks in popular amusement parks and zoos are extremely rare. In 2020, a keeper at the Zurich Zoo was killed by one of the Siberian tigers in the park. A year earlier, a 7-year-old Sumatran tiger attacked and wounded keeper at the Kansas Zoo.

AFP assisted in the preparation of this report.