‘Experienced’ Dreamworld handler attacked while walking tiger

A Gold Coast tiger handler was mauled while she was walking the animal at Dreamworld on Monday morning, suffering serious lacerations and puncture wounds, emergency services have revealed.

The Queensland Ambulance Service was called to Dreamworld shortly after 9am following an incident involving a tiger. There, paramedics treated a 47-year-old woman before taking her to Gold Coast University Hospital.

She remained there on Monday afternoon, a Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service spokeswoman said, where she was in a stable condition.

QAS acting district director Justin Payne said the handler had suffered serious lacerations and puncture wounds to her arm.

Payne said the handler had been walking the tiger with another handler, as they worked in pairs, and it had been taken back to a holding cell by the time the advanced care paramedic crew was at the scene.

“Thankfully, on [the paramedics’] arrival, the bleeding had been managed very well by first aid providers there at Dreamworld, which was excellent to see,” he said.

“She was quite pale and feeling unwell, but generally well and was able to be transported to hospital.”

Payne said the circumstances of the incident had not been provided to the attending ambulance crew.

“We don’t know how long she’s been working there, but she is one of the experienced and senior handlers there at Dreamworld and we believe she was well trained.”

A Dreamworld spokesperson confirmed the victim was trained in handling tigers.

“Dreamworld’s immediate focus is on the support of the team member,” the spokesperson said.

“This was an isolated and rare incident, and we will conduct a thorough review accordingly.”

Dreamworld’s tigers at the theme park’s Tiger Island.

Follow-up questions about the tiger’s welfare, which of the park’s nine tigers was involved, and any impact on the Tiger Island attraction have so far gone unanswered.

Payne said the biggest risk for the handler was infection from the wound.

“That will be part of her treatment regime from the hospital,” he said.

Dreamworld’s Tiger Island is currently home to nine Sumatran and Bengal tigers.

In 2011, a Bengal named Kato bit two Dreamworld tiger handlers – one in May and one in September.

Kato was transferred to Symbio Wildlife Park in NSW the following year, where he died in 2018 aged 16.

There were also a string of tiger-related injuries at Australia Zoo, on the Sunshine Coast, last decade.

In November 2013, 120-kilogram Sumatran tiger Ranu bit 33-year-old handler Dave Style on the neck and shoulder in front of horrified onlookers during a public show at the popular attraction, made famous by the late Steve Irwin.

The following July, another tiger, Juma, bit Australia Zoo handler Mark Turner on the calf during a routine walk.

And in 2016, Che Woolcott received deep scratches to his arm and head after Ranu swatted at him with his paw.

Monday’s attack at Dreamworld came two days after a female pedestrian was taken to hospital with a potentially life-threatening injury after she was struck by a vehicle on the road approaching the theme park.