Police say two male lions have attacked and seriously injured a keeper at a zoo in northern Germany.

The dpa news agency quoted a spokesman for police in Walsrode, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Hamburg, as saying the experienced keeper had walked into the lion enclosure during feeding time early Saturday.

Fellow keepers at the Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen noticed the attack and managed to get their 24-year-old colleague to safety.

The keeper, whose injuries weren't life threatening, was flow to the hospital by helicopter.