Tiger attacks handler at Steve Irwin zoo

AN ambulance officer has revealed the tiger handler who was attacked at Australia Zoo today had suffered “deep puncture wounds” to his head and arm, in addition to “scratches” earlier reported.

A “hot and bothered” tiger attacked a keeper at Steve Irwin’s zoo on Thursday.

He was treated at the scene and later taken to the hospital.

An Australian zoo keeper was severely wounded when he was attacked by a 12-year-old Sumatran tiger after it became “hot and bothered”.

The keeper was taken to Nambour General Hospital by Queensland Ambulance Service.

When Mr Woolcott “approached [Ranu] to change direction, he swatted his paw resulting in a scratch on his left wrist, bicep and right side of the forehead”, the zoo said in a statement.

A zoo spokesman confirmed to 7 News that the latest incident did not happen during a show.

He added: “A bit of a hot day, Ranu was frustrated with the heat”. Ranu is always the first to want to play or annoy one of the other tigers and boy does he push his luck.

A witness captured the moment this tiger maul David Styles at Australia Zoo in 2013.

Irwin’s widow Terri tweeted that both the tiger and the keeper were OK.

Television personality and conservationist Steve Irwin died in 2006 when a stingray barb punctured his chest while he was filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef in far north Queensland.