Tiger Attacks Keeper on Morning Walk!

Local Editor

A tiger attacked a keeper at a zoo in Australia on Thursday, leaving him with a "significant puncture wound" to the head at the popular tourist attraction.

The man, in his 40s, was treated by paramedics at the Sunshine Coast's Australia Zoo, founded by the family of late "Crocodile Hunter" star Steve Irwin, for wounds to his forehead and wrist and scratches to his body, according to medical sources.

Same sources further explained that the head wound was "significant" but not life-threatening, adding that the man was taken to a nearby hospital in a stable condition.

Relatively, the zoo administration issued a statement in which it said the injuries were "minor" and were sustained after the keeper was "scratched during a routine morning enrichment session."

"While walking through surrounding bush land at the zoo, Ranu - Australia Zoo's 12-year-old male Sumatran tiger - became overly interested in his surroundings and when his handler approached him to change direction, he swatted his paw resulting in a scratch on his left wrist, bicep and right side of the forehead," the statement added.

According to the zoo's website, handlers dealing with 120-kilogram Ranu "have to keep in mind that he is the boss and it is very important to be patient with him."

The attack came more than two years after a Sumatran tiger mauled its handler at the zoo in Beerwah, some 80 kilometers north of the state capital Brisbane, on Australia's east coast.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team