An Australia Zoo tiger handler is recovering after being nipped on the leg by one of its big cats.
Juma, the biggest tiger at Australia Zoo, bit 42-year-old Mark Turner on his left leg - the second incident involving a tiger and handler at the zoo in the past eight months.
A spokesman said the adult male tiger was being moved from one area to another as part of a routine activity on Tuesday when he “tagged” the keeper, leaving a puncture wound in his leg.
“First aid protocol was followed, the same as Australia Zoo renders all staff, and the keeper is going to be fine,” the spokesman said.
“Juma the tiger is fine as well.”
Ten-year-old Juma is a Sumatran tiger who has spent his life at Australia Zoo.
Sumatran tigers are the smallest of the five remaining tiger sub-species, but Juma still weighs 130 kilograms.
The Australia Zoo website describes him as having a laid-back personality and the first of the zoo’s adult tigers to be introduced to new handlers.
It is the second biting incident involving a tiger and a handler at Australia Zoo since November last year.
That's when a 114kg Bengal tiger, Charlie, became "over-excited" and bit his handler Dave Styles on the neck and shoulder during a tiger show, keeping him away from work for several months.
Australia Zoo, owned by the family of the late crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, announced the latest incident on Twitter.
"Keeper has tooth puncture wound but is fine," it said.
A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman said the tiger handler was taken to Nambour Hospital, on the Sunshine Coast, in a stable condition.
