Schoolteacher Joanne Cabban was left with serious injuries and taken to a hospital for treatment after she was attacked by a lion at a zoo run by her sister and brother-in-law
A teacher who was mauled by a lion at a zoo has been pictured for the first time as a video of staff kissing the predator emerged online.
Schoolteacher Joanne Cabban, believed to be in her 50s, was attacked and left seriously injured by a lion at Darlin Downs Zoo, near Toowoomba, at about 8.30am on Sunday, with emergency services racing to the scene after they were alerted to reports of an attack on a woman. Ms Cabban was flown to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane and was said to have lost her arm, although she remains in a stable condition.
The teacher, from New South Wales, is the sister of Stephanie Robinson, who co-owns the zoo with her husband Steve. Mr Robinson previously told reporters at the zoo the attack was not the “lions fault” and that is appeared “the lion was just playing.”
It emerged as footage from a 7News report in 2023 resurfaced showing a staff member getting close and kissing a lion’s face through the fence. It also showed the woman moving to scratch its face until the lion snapped its head back and showed its teeth. 7News has suggested the woman in the video is Stephanie Robinson.
The Robinsons started to breed lions in 2017 and had opened Darling Downs Zoo in 2005. The couple specialised in captive husbandry and breeding of critically, endangered and vulnerable species.
Mr Robinson updated reporters outside the zoo today as it reopened to the public. He said Ms Cabban had made regular visits from her home in Forbes, in New South Wales to Toowoomba with her family for the holidays over the past 20 years.
He added she was familiar with the lions and that the incident was not “an attack” and believed the animal had been playing. According to News.com.au, he said: “We’ve raised these lions ourselves.
“Their temperaments are excellent. We can still interact with them through the mesh of the cage.” When the incident happened, his sister-in-law was with Stephanie and a carnivore keeper.
Mr Robinson said Joanne ad not been in the lions’ enclosure and that their main enclosure was in the process of being cleaned. A second keeper, who was trained in first aid, was close by and was credited by Mr Robinson as having saved his sister-in-law’s life.
The zoo co-owner said: “She actually took my wife’s leather belt off and applied a tourniquet. Very quickly, the first aid kit was there, we wrapped her up in a thermal blanket and the paramedics locally were here very, very quickly.”
He said nobody saw the attack and that Joanne was not in a well enough condition to explain. Mr Robinson continued: “There were people working very, very close nearby, but it was all over in a split second. It was that quick that we could only surmise at this stage.”