New details revealed about NSW woman Joanne Cabban mauled by a lion

The NSW woman who had her arm mauled by a lioness has been described as an avid “animal lover” who would “take off” every holiday to visit the zoo that has now changed her life forever.

Joanne Cabban has been identified as the victim of a lion attack at a Queensland Zoo. Picture: 7NEWS

The NSW woman who had her arm mauled by a lioness has been described as an avid “animal lover” who would “take off” every holiday to visit the zoo that has now changed her life forever.

Joanne Cabban had dropped off her dogs and travelled up the coast to visit her sister in Brisbane last week to spend time at the family’s Darling Downs Zoo near Brisbane when tragedy struck.

Joanne Cabban has been identified as the victim of a lion attack at a Queensland Zoo. Picture: 7NEWS

The hardworking teacher and school co-ordinator from Parkes had made the same trip many times before, but this time would be different.

Local kennel owner Jayne Nicholson was one of the last people to see Ms Cabban before she left Parkes and is currently looking after her three dogs, cavaliers Scooby and Chrissy and dachshund Teddy.

Ms Nicholson said Ms Cabban would be “devastated” to have been attacked doing what she loved most.

“Jo loves her animals, she just lives for them, adores them and would do anything for her dogs,” Ms Nicholson told The Saturday Telegraph.

The three dogs owned by Joanne Cabban are being cared for at Waggy Tails dog kennel in Forbes. Picture: Rohan Kelly

“She is an animal lover … and I just wonder how she is doing to get past this.

“But she is a very positive person, this will just be a bump in the road for Jo, she’ll be sitting up there (in hospital) thinking what she’s going to do about work.”

Ms Nicholson said Ms Cabban was “very close” with her sister Stephanie Robinson, who owns the zoo with her husband Steve Robinson, and would “take off every school holidays” to visit her at the wildlife park.

Ms Cabban had also been asking for photos of her beloved dogs before the accident and usually watches them through a baby monitor while at work so she can “see what they’re up to when she’s out”.

According to family members by her bedside at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Ms Cabban went through a second round of surgery and skin grafts on Thursday and is due to come home in a couple of weeks.

But life will be very different for the quiet educator who has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight.

Ms Cabban was in the zoo’s holding pen with her sister and a young keeper on Sunday morning when a lionnes mauled her arm in an attack that still remains shrouded in speculation.

One of three dogs owned by Joanne Cabban. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Queensland Workplace Health and Safety have since launched an investigation into the accident and only keepers are now allowed in the zoo’s holding pens per a new “prohibition notice”.

The freak accident has made headlines around the world and rippled through the regional towns of Parkes and nearby Forbes, where Ms Cabban has worked for decades at Red Bend Catholic College.

This time last year, the physics and maths teacher was attending an international mathematics education congress in Sydney, according to her Facebook.

On a quiet street on the outskirts of Parkes, a sign reading “dogs welcome, people tolerated” hangs by the entry of the house where Ms Cabban lives with her husband Rick Cabban, who has flown to Brisbane to be by her side.

Mr Cabban works for a local silo company, loves the Bulldogs and regularly competes at the local squash club with his wife.

Lions in there inclosure, after a person was attacked and their arm was severed, Darling Downs Zoo.

The couple’s neighbour Matthew Paradowski was shocked to hear Ms Cabban was the victim of the lioness attack, describing her as a “very quiet, very nice” woman who “loves to walk her dogs”.

Parkes Mayor Neil Westcott said he was thankful the incident “wasn’t a fatality, which it so easily could have been”.

“It’s a life changing event for Jo and her family … Typical of rural towns we rally around each other and offer support and we will certainly be there for her,” Mr Westcott said.

Originally published as New details revealed about NSW woman Joanne Cabban mauled by a lion