Overview

• Joanne Cabban, a schoolteacher from New South Wales and sister of the zoo’s co-owners, lost her left arm when a lioness bit her through a holding pen during routine cleaning on July 6.
• A trained carnivore keeper applied a makeshift tourniquet using a leather belt and helped stabilize Cabban before she was airlifted to Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital for emergency surgery.
• The family-run zoo remained closed for two days for procedural reviews and staff briefings before reopening to the public at 9 a.m. local time on July 8.
• Darling Downs Zoo confirmed the lioness never exited its enclosure and has ruled out euthanasia, emphasizing there was no broader risk to visitors or staff.
• Workplace Health and Safety Queensland and the Queensland Police Service have launched a joint investigation into the incident’s safety and enclosure protocols.