I didn't even know they had lions there - they get almost zero coverage here on ZooChat and are rarely mentioned in the media. I drive past that zoo at least twice a year on our way down to Lake Conjola, but have never found time to stop and visit.
Shoalhaven currently houses six lions (four whites and two tawny males). The two tawny males were imported from South Africa and they turned one in October of last year. It seems like one (or both) of these younger males were the ones who attacked the keeper.
There’s a video of these adolescent males (Aerial and Judah) with a keeper here: No Cookies | The Mercury Judging by her injuries (bites to the head and neck), I’m willing to bet she was attacked by these two males. Had it been an adult, the injuries would likely have been unsurvivable. I don’t know whether they’ve continued to have contact with those males 10 months after that video was taken in July 2019, or whether the lions responsible breached a containment area. There was a similar incident involving adolescent lions Zulu and Malik at Wellington Zoo in January 2006. The keeper survived with injuries that required minor surgery.
This is what it sounds like to me, too. If the lions were really trying to hurt her, she would be dead. If they were hands on with them for that long, they could have been trying to play.
More news coverage: 'Daunting': Ambos enter lions' den to treat mauled keeper with big cats metres away A New South Wales ambulance officer has described the "daunting" moment she walked into an enclosure to retrieve a zookeeper who had been mauled by two lions. The animals had already been controlled and moved into cages just metres away at Shoalhaven Zoo, on the state's South Coast. Inspector Faye Stockman said zoo staff accompanied paramedics into the lions' den. "As I was first on the scene it was a little bit daunting, in the sense of going in there and seeing two lions nearby," she said. ... read more
This article confirms our assumptions it was adolescent males (Aerial and Judah) and gives some more detail on the attack: PICTURED: Zookeeper, 35, who was cleaning a cage when she was 'viciously' attacked by two lion cubs | Armenian American Reporter The experienced keeper - 35 year Jennifer Brown, was cleaning the exhibit and was later discovered unconscious by colleagues. They separated the lions from her by entering the exhibit themselves and phoned for medical assistance. Jennifer is in a critical but stable condition. Hopefully she makes a full recovery.
It’s a very poorly written and sensational article. I also hope she makes a full recovery and the lions aren’t destroyed.
Shoalhaven Zoo has released a short Facebook post. I hope the keeper involved makes a full recovery. Shoalhaven Zoo
The lions won’t be destroyed. Aside from the bad PR this would generate, there’s no logical reason to destroy them since they pose no more danger to humans than any other captive big cat. They’ll simply cease contact with them; or send them to another zoo. The zoo has invested a lot of money to import them from South Africa and they’re of high value to the breeding programme.
I am assuming that they do not have contact with these lions under normal situations (as it is illegal in NSW for any carnivore over 20kg) and this was the result of something going horribly wrong.
Billabong Zoo in Port Macquarie, NSW have (or at least used to have) full contact with their lions. A video from about two years ago:
It may be possible that there has been an acceptable risk assessment made and permission granted under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, which is not easy to get and why you don't see it like you do in Queensland (Dreamworld and Australia Zoo). Otherwise the NSW law states: "1) All carnivores must be removed from their enclosure before any person is permitted to enter that enclosure, due to their potential danger to humans. 2) The requirements of (1) do not apply where: ...the carnivores weigh less than 20kg." Whenever I have been involved in hand-raising big cats, all contact stopped once they reached this size (although I at one time I think it was 30kg). Maybe someone can shed some light on this? Like I said, maybe special permission???
I believe that the DPI have been relaxing this restriction lately and allowing keepers access to animal at the discretion of the zoos owners/directors so long as they were suitably hand raised and trained. If the 20kg rule we’re still followed that would mean that the wild cat centre couldn’t work in with their cheetah nor could any zoo work in with maned wolves or even some large binturong, none of which, so long as the cheetah are hand raised, I couldn’t see posing a massive threat to keepers working in with them. I can imagine that following this incident the rules may change but I honestly feel that 20kg is too low. Something like this can’t just be managed under a weight range but should be assessed with regards to each species general demeanour and likelihood to cause harm.
Of course I don't with injury or death upon anyone but I do think if you intentionally go into an enclosure with a lion or tiger you are an absolute *&@#! idiot.
This is a clause written into the Standards for exhibiting carnivores in NSW, so wouldn’t affect herbivore only members of order Carnivora.
