This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A tiger mauled a zookeeper at the Topeka Zoo in north-eastern Kansas on Saturday.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported the incident happened around 9.30am, when a Sumatran tiger named Sanjiv tackled the worker in an enclosed outdoor space.

The zoo was open and the attack was witnessed by some people. The zoo closed, then reopened about 45 minutes after the attack, which officials were investigating.

Topeka Zoo director Brendan Wiley said a female zookeeper suffered lacerations and puncture wounds to her head, neck and back. She was awake and alert when she was taken by ambulance to a hospital, Wiley said, adding that she was in stable condition on Saturday afternoon. The zookeeper’s name was not immediately released.

Sanjiv came to the Topeka Zoo in August 2017 from a zoo in Akron, Ohio.