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ABC News
13-07-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
Queenslanders warned to brace for another chilly week as temperatures plummet
As school students return to the classroom from today, most of Queensland is being warned to brace for another week of widespread frost and chilly conditions. Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said cold starts and sunny days were the outlook across the state. "We're also going to see another round of widespread frost from the south-east coast, Darling Downs, Maranoa and Warrego, possibly even into the central western highlands, Coalfields and Wide Bay. "So large parts of the state are going to see another cold, frosty morning, but it will then be a bright, sunny day not only there but right across the state on Monday." Temperatures plummeted below zero around the Darling Downs and Granite Belt, as well as the Maranoa and Warrego, over the weekend. On Monday morning, residents in Oakey woke to an icy -3.5 degrees Celsius. "We saw temperatures around -3C through places like Oakey, Applethorpe, and Stanthorpe -2C, Roma -2C, Miles -2C and Warwick as well," Mr Narramore said. "That will be the focus again on Monday and even again into Tuesday morning as well; they'll be the kind of areas that will have the coldest temperatures. "But single figures extending well north as well, even up into Mount Isa, Flinders Highway even up through there, we're going to see temperatures get down into the low single figures as well." The weather bureau said the cold snap was due to a large high-pressure system lingering over much of the country that was bringing a cool and frosty start to the day. Maximum forecast temperatures for the week range in the low to mid 20s for southern parts of the state, while northern areas and the far west will see high 20s to low 30s. "It's typical winter weather for this time of the year and it's the story statewide for much of the week," Mr Narramore said. However, Mr Narramore warned that winds would pick up by week's end, as well as the chances of shower activity. "As we move into Friday and into the weekend, we're going to see those winds tend a little bit more onshore," he said. "This means we could start to see cloud and showers developing through eastern and south-eastern Queensland on Friday afternoon and [they] probably could be more widespread on Saturday, just in time for the weekend. "So cold mornings but a sunny week for much of the state Monday through to Thursday, then we could see some cloud and showers returning and warmer nights Friday and into the weekend."
The Guardian
12-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
The mane attraction: How many lions are in Australia and how well are they regulated?
Visitors seeking a 'prey's eye view' can get within 'clawing range' of lions at one Australian zoo. Or they can experience the 'thrill of a lifetime' by standing near enough to a lion to feel its breath as they pass meat through the fence with kitchen tongs. 'Want to feed a lion by hand?' You can do that too if you find the right zoo. Visitors can pay $150 to place meat directly on their palm and feed it to a hungry lion through the bars. A visit to the zoo is usually considered a fun family day out, and lions are a popular drawcard. While details are not yet clear, the recent maiming of a woman related to the zoo owner in a staff-only area at Darling Downs zoo at the weekend has offered a stark reminder that lions are held in facilities across the country, and encounters with the apex predators can come with risk. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Zoos can be an important part of conserving the lion as species, officially classed as 'vulnerable', but public fascination with the powerful big cats means they have been the centrepiece of zoos and public spectacle centuries before their status in the wild declined. Lions have been kept in captivity since the Roman empire, skulls belonging to lions have been unearthed in the Tower of London – believed to have been part of the royal menagerie 700 years prior – and in the 1800s live lions were shipped over the oceans to entertain the colonists in Australian zoos. Wallace, one of Melbourne Zoo's first lions, was famous for his love of classical gramophone music. Today these kings of the jungle can be found at wildlife parks dotted around Australia – from the famous big city zoos and their open air counterparts to the south coast of New South Wales, the Darling Downs of Queensland and the Victorian Alps. Which begs the question – just how many lions are there in Australia? And how well are the facilities they are kept in being regulated? 'When people think of zoos, they often think of the big cats – tigers and lions,' says Dr Eduardo J Fernandez, animal behaviour program director at the University of Adelaide and an expert in the family felidae, which includes the big cats. There are about 100 lions in Australian zoos, according to Zoos and Aquarium Association Australasia (ZAAA), along with other big cats. Fernandez says standards and protocols – like those covered by the ZAAA accreditation – are critical for both animal welfare and safety, particularly for 'any animal that poses potential danger', which is every species of big cat. Accreditation for ZAAA, is a self-assessment process. There are now between 75 and 80 accredited operations in Australia, but ZAAA estimates about 200 licensed animal facilities in the country, which range from wildlife shelters and hospitals to zoos, wildlife parks and aquariums. 'The better zoos in Australia will be part of the [ZAAA] accreditation scheme,' says Assoc. Prof Alex Whittaker, an animal welfare law expert at the University of Adelaide. However, she says, national species-specific regulation or guidance is limited. And while national standards for the care of exhibited animals were endorsed by governments in 2019, they have not yet been adopted across all jurisdictions. The rules and oversight of facilities keeping dangerous animals varies by state and territory. In addition to its own zoo-specific laws, NSW sets minimum standards for exhibiting carnivores, including specifications for lion enclosures – fences at least 4.5m in height with 5mm mesh. Similar, but slightly different, rules apply in Victoria. Will Meikle, a zoo animal welfare expert was involved in developing NSW laws and standards that regulate the keeping of exotic animals. 'From a physical perspective, you obviously have to maintain safety of staff and visitors to the facilities and ensure that the animals are able to be safely held in captivity that they're not going to escape.' But, even carefully designed enclosures aren't impenetrable. In 2022, five lions escaped their enclosure at Sydney's Taronga zoo, forcing visitors to hide in safe zones and triggering a review of zoo safety. Later, footage showed the animals managed to scratch and break through a security fence. Many zoo websites – from large, publicly funded institutions to small regional wildlife parks – promote paid encounters offering the chance to 'hand feed' lions and other dangerous carnivores. Such closeup encounters are common at zoos worldwide and considered safe, with 75% offering some sort of human-animal experience, according to a 2019 study. 'There's a real interest by people who want to feed the animals,' says Meikle. 'If people can't feed the animals, they want to see somebody feeding the animals, and they want to interact with the animals as much as they can.' These sorts of experiences would usually be covered by an internal operating procedure rather than regulation, he says. Fernandez, who has written a book on zoo animal-visitor interactions, says these could be positive from a welfare perspective, but their outcomes are rarely assessed. 'It's critical that we evaluate the impact, because there are many instances of different types of interactions that can be good for the welfare of the animal [and] be enriching. But there's also many instances, historically, that have been detrimental.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion And there is evidence the public is deeply concerned about animal wellbeing. In 2020-21, researcher Dr Janice Vaz surveyed 375 people, including 164 Australians, for their views on big cats in zoos. She found the public preferred to see animals kept in modern enclosures with naturalistic exhibits, suggesting a deeper concern for animal welfare and generally disapproved of direct interactions like feeding or playing with clubs. 'It can be a hard task even for people caring for their own house cats to get right, let alone trying to meet the needs of a wild, 130kg+ carnivore,' says feline behaviour researcher, Julia Henning. 'Lions have evolved to be excellent hunters, and this behaviour is hard wired into them. This means that it is not enough to simply provide them with food, they require an ability to express the behaviours they would usually associate with the food such as hunting, stalking and ambushing.' Zoos use enrichment activities to mimic aspects of foraging behaviours, like carcass feeding, says Fernandez, but constantly evaluating and adapting practices is essential. There are limitations, and huge variation in the quality of the environment and enrichment provided. Recreating the natural environment is ideal, but a challenge. Fernandez says generally, as lions are a social species, it is good to have a pride of lions held together. In the wild, a lion's home range might extend to 10,000 hectares. The largest enclosure in Australia, at South Australia's Monarto Safari Park, is 11-hectares, while the minimum size in Victoria and NSW is 200 to 300 metres-square. Incidents, while extremely rare, do occur. 'There are inherent risks when working with wildlife and certain behaviours can be unpredictable, however zoos and aquariums have policies in place to minimise these risks,' a ZAAA spokesperson says. 'The sector is continuously improving its standards, and incidents like this [the 6 July incident] will be followed with careful review.' A Biosecurity Queensland spokesperson says authorised animal exhibitors are expected to manage risks with exhibited animals, and the department was 'working to gather further information related to the incident'. Workplace Health and Safety Queensland is also investigating. All incidents should provoke 'deep consideration' of how we 'house, treat and interact with animals in our care', says Henning. 'It should prompt zoos and other organisations to question the need for their encounters.'
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Woman suffers severe arm injury after being mauled by lion in Aussie zoo
A woman in her 50s suffered a 'significant' arm injury after being mauled by a lion at a zoo in Australia. The Darling Downs Zoo, in Queensland, said the woman was watching zookeepers in the carnivore precinct when she was set upon at around 8.20am Sunday. It's believed she may have lost her arm in the attack, and is now in a stable condition after having surgery Sunday afternoon. In a statement released late on Sunday, Darling Downs Zoo said the injured woman was 'not one of our immediate family nor a keeper' and was watching zookeepers work in the carnivore precinct. 'This is something that she has done many, many times over the past 20 years,' the statement said. 'She is well versed in safety protocols around potentially dangerous animals. 'Inexplicably, at this stage, one animal grabbed her by one arm and caused severe damage to it.' The zoo said at no stage did the lion leave its enclosure and there was no risk to staff members or members of the public. The lion will not be put down or punished in any way, according to the statement. Darling Downs Zoo's managing director, Steve Robinson, has been keeping African lions and managing their husbandry and welfare for nearly 50 years. He and his wife, Stephanie, began breeding lions in 1997. In 2002, they moved their animal collection to the Darling Downs region west of Brisbane and started building the Darling Downs Zoo. The zoo is home to tawny lions and rare white lions, as well as two lion cubs. Visitors can pay $150 for an up-close encounter with the lions, tigers and leopards. The zoo's website said a specially trained keeper accompanied guests as they went behind the scenes to feed the big cats meat using a pair of tongs, billing it as the 'thrill of a lifetime.' Two weeks ago, the zoo posted that its lionesses enjoyed 'the company of humans immensely.' 'Each day at 10am they are on supervised display to our visitors and are also available for some personalized encounters,' the post read. 'These encounters are strictly monitored to ensure their enjoyment of them and their wellbeing.' The natural lifespan of lions is usually only up to around 14 years in the wild but in captivity they can live much longer, according to the zoo. The zoo is home to multiple big cat species including Sumatran tigers, cheetahs and leopards. Police and Workplace Health and Safety personnel are on site investigating the incident. The zoo is working with them to establish how this incident occurred but the full details are unlikely to be known until the woman is out of surgery. The zoo will reopen on Monday after being closed for the day on Sunday.
Telegraph
07-07-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Woman loses arm in lion attack at Australian zoo
A woman in her 50s has lost her arm after being mauled by a lion at a private zoo in rural Australia. The attack took place on Sunday morning at Darling Downs Zoo in Queensland, as the woman was observing zookeepers working inside the carnivore precinct before the zoo had opened to the public. According to the zoo, a lion suddenly grabbed her by the arm, inflicting severe injuries. She was airlifted from the town of Pilton to a hospital in the state's capital, Brisbane, and underwent emergency surgery. Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls later confirmed that her arm could not be saved. She remains in hospital and is expected to require further treatment. The woman was not a member of staff but had long-standing ties to the zoo. In a statement, the zoo said she was a 'much-loved member of our family' who had been observing keepers at work for more than 20 years and was 'well-versed in safety protocols around potentially dangerous animals'. 'She is well-versed in safety protocols around potentially dangerous animals.' Zoo officials said the lion involved had not recently been 'cubbed', which can sometimes increase aggression in big cats and 'will definitely not be put down or punished in any way'. The zoo is working with workplace safety authorities to determine how the incident occurred, though a full account may not emerge until the woman is able to speak with investigators. Darling Downs Zoo, which opened in 2004 and spans 48 hectares, is home to several species of big cats including lions, tigers and leopards. It has been owned and run for two decades by Steve and Stephanie Robinson. Mr Robinson said he had not yet spoken to the woman but would provide an update once she had undergone further surgery, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Local MP David Littleproud described the incident as 'horrific' and said it had deeply shocked the community. 'It is a tragedy and a shock to not just staff at the zoo, but the entire community.' The last serious lion attack in Australia occurred in 2020, when a zookeeper was critically injured by two lions at Shoalhaven Zoo in New South Wales. Darling Downs Zoo is expected to reopen to the public on Tuesday.
ABC News
06-07-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
'Sunny, benign' school holiday weather after morning showers in parts of Queensland
After a windy and rainy start to the school holidays for parts of the state, Queensland is in for a week of mostly "settled and sunny weather". Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Angus Hines said that although there might be a few spots of rainfall in parts of the south east this morning, it should clear by this afternoon. "The outlook for the week ahead is more settled and sunny … so a good time to get out and about to burn a bit of energy [and] get the outdoor chores done," Mr Hines said. Mr Hines said some patchy rain could be expected in most central and eastern areas on Wednesday night and Thursday, but it would likely clear by Friday. "[The rain] is very hit and miss. There's no guarantee of seeing any wet weather there, and even if you do, probably just 2 or 3 millimetres and then it's all done and dusted for the day. "Outside of those two windows … we're looking at lots of clear weather in the week ahead and a few cold mornings." According to Mr Hines, the clear skies and settled conditions, with light winds overnight, could lead to some low single-digit minimums in parts, approaching 0 degrees Celsius. Parts of the inland south east, up across the Darling Downs and Granite Belt, as well as the south and central west areas, would likely see frost over the next couple of days. Mr Hines said those areas could see temperatures that were 1 to 3C below average. "But it's typical of what we would call a 'clear winter week', to see these temperatures through the mornings," Mr Hines said. Maximum temperatures for the week range in the southern inland areas from the high teens to the low 20s. While coastal parts of the state can expect maximum temperatures in the low to mid 20s for the next few days, northern inland areas will see top temperatures range from the high 20s to the low 30s. "[As for the minimums] down on the coastline … we're still talking single digits, but more like between 5 and 10 [degrees], as opposed to 0 to 5 [degrees]," Mr Hines said. Mr Hines said this morning on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, swells might reach 1 to 1.5 metres, but they would ease by this afternoon. However, he said the swell would pick up again towards Friday, across almost the entire east coast.
