If we haven't terrified you enough with recent stories of lions on the attack, here's one more set in your average zoo. An Australian woman was watching animal keepers at work at Darling Downs Zoo in Toowoomba, Queensland, on Sunday morning, before the zoo had opened, when she was somehow attacked by a lion, the AP reports. News outlets are reporting her arm was severed from her body. The 50-year-old was airlifted to a hospital in Brisbane where she underwent surgery and was listed in stable condition as of Sunday. In describing the incident, the zoo said the lioness "inexplicably" grabbed the arm of a "much loved member" of the zoo's "family."
She's identified by News.com.au as New South Wales schoolteacher Joanne Cabban, who is sister and sister-in-law to zoo owners Stephanie and Steve Robinson, respectively. The zoo said she'd watched animal keepers at work many times over the past two decades and was "well versed in safety protocols around potentially dangerous animals." Speaking to reporters outside the zoo on Tuesday, Steve Robinson said no one saw what had happened, but it wasn't an attack because "the lion was just playing," per News.com.au. He noted the couple "raised these lions ourselves" and "we can still interact with them through the mesh of the cage." A 2023 7News report featured footage of a staff member kissing a lion through a cage.
Robinson implied the lioness had reached Cabban through an enclosure fence. He said the lions were in a holding enclosure while Cabban, her sister, and another animal keeper were outside of it. "At no stage did this animal leave its enclosure and there was no risk at all to staff members or members of the public," the zoo noted, adding the animal would "not be put down or punished in any way." Robinson credited the second animal keeper with saving Cabban's life, noting "she actually took my wife's leather belt off and applied a tourniquet," per the Guardian. Cabban was due to undergo another surgery on Tuesday, the outlet notes.
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