Animal handler mauled by tiger at Dreamworld theme park in Australia
Park officials call incident ‘rare and isolated’
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An animal handler at a theme park in Australia suffered injuries to her arm and shoulder after she was attacked by a tiger on Monday morning.
The incident took place at Dreamworld near Coomera on Queensland’s Gold Coast, a major tourist attraction that also includes a wildlife park.
The injured handler, in her 40s, was taken to the Gold Coast University Hospital and was reported to be in a stable condition.
She was working with the tiger at about 9am on Monday when the big cat attacked her in what park officials described as a “rare and isolated incident”.
“Dreamworld acknowledges an incident that occurred involving one of the park’s tigers and a trained tiger handler,” a spokesperson said.
“Dreamworld’s immediate focus is on the support of the team member. This was an isolated and rare incident, and we will conduct a thorough review accordingly.”
Justin Payne of Queensland Ambulance Service said that the bleeding from the injury was handled “very well” by first aid providers at the theme park.
“She was quite pale and feeling unwell, but in general well and was able to be transported to hospital,” he said.
“She is one of the experienced and senior handlers there at Dreamworld. We believe she was well trained and it’s good to see that she was able to be looked after by other support staff there.”
Dreamworld’s Tiger Island has nine Sumatran and Bengal tigers, with parkgoers able to get up close to them through viewing tunnels — “so close you could feel the breath of a tiger”.
The park offers a feeding experience where visitors aged 13 and older can feed the tigers using tongs for 15 minutes. Those aged 13 to 15 must be accompanied by a paying adult for this experience.
In 2011, a nine-year-old male Bengal tiger named Kato bit two separate handlers at the park.
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