A tiger handler is being treated in hospital after being mauled during a show at Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

The zoo says the tiger became "over excited" during a regular play session.

Amateur vision shows a Sumatran tiger pouncing on the 30-year-old zoo worker, who was bitten on the shoulder and neck.

Several colleagues rushed to his rescue, dragging the man to safety.

The incident happened in front of a crowd of spectators, with one young girl saying: "He got scratched in the neck by a tiger when it jumped on him."

Paramedics treated the man at the scene and managed to stem the bleeding, but he was later flown to the Royal Brisbane Hospital.

His condition is listed as serious but stable.

Australia Zoo says the handler is very experienced with big cats and has been handling the animals at the zoo for nine years.

"Our support is with him and his family," the zoo said on Twitter.

A spokesman for the zoo added that there will be a full investigation into the incident.

The zoo keeps three Bengal and eight Sumatran tigers.