Tiger attacks and injures handler at Australia theme park

A tiger bit an animal handler on the arm Monday at an Australian amusement park, officials said.

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

Staff managed the bleeding as an ambulance was called to Dreamworld just before 9 a.m., Payne said. The amusement park opens to the public at 10 a.m.

"We were advised that at that location a 47-year-old female, an experienced handler, had been bitten by one of the tigers," Payne said.

"The patient obviously had received some serious lacerations and puncture wounds from the animal. She was quite pale and feeling unwell, but generally well," Payne added.

The amusement park, which has rides as well as animal exhibits, described the attack in a statement as an "isolated and rare incident" that would be investigated.

Located in Australia's Gold Coast tourist hub, Dreamworld says it is the largest theme park in the country.

The park's "Tiger Island" says it houses nine Sumatran and Bengal tigers. The park's website invites audiences to be "amazed by their might and raw power during feeding time."

Tiger attacls at mainstream theme parks and zoos are extremely rare. In 2020, a female keeper at Zurich's zoo was killed by one of the park's Siberian tigers. The year before, that a 7-year-old Sumatran tiger attacked and injured a female zookeeper at a zoo in Kansas.

AFP contributed to this report.