Teacher Joanne Cabban has been identified as the woman who lost an arm after being attacked by a lion at a Queensland zoo owned by her sister and brother-in-law.
Cabban, a teacher from Parkes in New South Wales, was near a holding pen when the attack happened about 8.30am on Sunday, 30 minutes before the zoo was due to open.
Joanne Cabban, a teacher from Forbes in NSW, lost an arm after she was mauled by a lion at a Darling Downs Zoo owned by her sister and brother-in-law.Credit: Facebook
The teacher was visiting Darling Downs Zoo, as she did on many school holidays.
“The rest of her family is up here – her father, brother, nieces, nephews,” her brother-in-law and zoo co-owner Steve Robinson said.
“Each holiday, she drives up from where she lives to the zoo. She stays here with us.
“She’s been doing that now for over 20 years. If you’re looking at, say, 20 by four, you’re looking about 80 times she’s been up here and she has done exactly what she was doing on the morning of this accident.”
Cabban lives in the NSW town of Parkes and works as a teacher in nearby Forbes.
Robinson said Sunday’s lioness attack happened while Cabban was near a holding pen, where the zoo’s big cats are kept while their main enclosure is cleaned.
“Only trained people have access to this area,” Robinson said.
Cabban’s sister Stephanie and a keeper were finishing up the morning clean when they heard the incident unfold.
“Nobody actually saw what happened. It was all over in a split second,” Robinson said.
“She certainly was not in the enclosure. Nobody goes into enclosures with adult lions at the zoo, so we can rule that out totally.”
Cabban underwent further surgery at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital on Tuesday.
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