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A woman has suffered severe arm injuries after being attacked by a lion at an Australian zoo.
The 50-year-old was at Queensland's Darling Downs Zoo, south of Toowomba, on Sunday morning, when the incident occurred.
She had been observing animal keepers in the carnivore precinct before opening hours.
She was airlifted by helicopter from the rural town of Pilton to Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital for surgery and is now in a stable condition, the zoo said in a statement.
Several news outlets reported that the woman lost the injured arm.
Zoo staff are now cooperating with government workplace safety investigators to establish how the incident happened, with the state government confirming an investigation is underway.
"Inexplicably ... one animal grabbed her by one arm and caused severe damage to it," the zoo statement said.
"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 woman was not a staff member but a "much loved member" of the zoo's "family", the statement added.
She had watched keepers at work many times over the past 20 years and was "well versed in safety protocols around potentially dangerous animals", the zoo said.
“Police and Workplace Health and Safety personnel are investigating this incident and have been onsite all morning. The zoo is working with them to establish how this incident occurred but the full details will not be known until (the woman) can be interviewed.”
Staff at the 48-hectare (119-acre) zoo declined media interviews on Monday.
The zoo planned to reopen on Tuesday for the first time since the attack.
"The animal will definitely not be put down or punished in any way," the statement said.
Five years ago, two lions mauled and critically injured a keeper inside their enclosure at the Shoalhaven Zoo in the state of New South Wales.
