A female Zoo employee was bitten by a lion in the head and neck in an attack that health workers called "extremely brutal" on the morning of May 29 at Shoalhaven Zoo, about 162km from Sydney, New South Wales.
9 News Australia reported that medical staff arrived at the scene at around 10:30 a.m. local time. At that time, the 3-year-old female employee was unconscious in the lion cage. She was taken to a hospital in Sydney in a "crisis but stable" condition, police said.
Faye Stockmen, an employee of the New South Wales rescue team, told 9 News Australia that it was "one of the scariest experiences" of her career.
"We really have to go into the lion's den. This is one of the worst jobs I have ever been in," Stockmen said.
Shoalhaven Zoo was not open at the time of the incident. It has been closed for several weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
