Woman attacked by lion at Quebec zoo should make full recovery: director

GRANBY, Que. – The head of a Quebec zoo says an employee who was attacked by a lion should make a full recovery.

Granby Zoo’s Paul Gosselin says the woman in her early 20s had surgery on Monday night after a “minor” neck fracture.

The 14-year-old female lion that attacked her will not be put down because it did not show any abnormal behaviour before or after the attack.

Gosselin says Kao felt threatened on its turf and acted consequently before a second employee sprayed the animal with water from a hose and managed to distance it from the injured woman.

The woman has worked at the zoo since 2011.

The zoo has three lions in all.

Gosselin said Tuesday the investigation into the attack is still underway, but strongly points at human error.

“Everything leads us to believe that a door unfortunately was open and that maybe nobody checked beforehand,” he told a news conference.

Granby is 80 kilometres east of Montreal.