A young Australian diplomat on her first foreign posting is lucky to be alive after being severely mauled by lions at a game park near the Zimbabwean capital Harare, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported on Thursday.
Gemma Huggins (27) was visiting the Lion and Cheetah Park when the incident happened on March 4, said the newspaper.
She and other embassy staff were taken into a lion pen by a handler when a lion suddenly pounced on her head and shook her, according to the report. Other lions then joined in the attack.
The lion’s teeth are reported to have come within millimetres of Huggins’ jugular vein.
Huggins has been treated for severe injuries to her head, neck, torso and leg and underwent several skin grafts at Pretoria’s Unitas Hospital.
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed that a diplomat from the Harare embassy had been hospitalised after an attack at a game park.
This is the second serious lion attack at the Lion and Cheetah Park in recent years. In 2005, a Japanese diplomat was killed after she was attacked by lions at the park.
Officials at the game park say the handler on duty when Huggins was mauled has been fired.
”There is not much to say really because the woman attacked has since been released from hospital and we have already taken other corrective measures, which included dismissing the person who was on duty on that particular day,” said Lion and Cheetah Park manager Anthony Newall.
The state Zimbabwe Tourism Authority ordered the temporary closure of the park after the attack. ‒ Sapa-DPA