Darling Downs Zoo Darling Downs Zoo News 2025

Giraffe calf update:

Darling Downs Zoo’s giraffe calf has been sexed as a female and named ‘Ivy’ - in keeping with her female relatives in the herd having botanical names (she joins mother, Tulip; and aunt, Lily; with a previous calf being named Iris - now at Melbourne Zoo).

Ivy is now on display. That Addax herd is certainly thriving!

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Photo source: Darling Downs Zoo’s socials
 

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Zoofan15 said:
Giraffe calf update:

Darling Downs Zoo’s giraffe calf has been sexed as a female and named ‘Ivy’ - in keeping with her female relatives in the herd having botanical names (she joins mother, Tulip; and aunt, Lily; with a previous calf being named Iris - now at Melbourne Zoo).

Ivy is now on display. That Addax herd is certainly thriving!

View attachment 805389
Photo source: Darling Downs Zoo’s socials
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Having another female is a bonus!
 
Jambo said:
An incident has taken place this morning regarding a female in her 50's who sustained a 'significant arm injury' after being 'bitten by a big cat'.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/d...-big-cat/c94d0a80-530c-4ce5-9c41-562caa77a07d
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It’s received a lot of coverage in the media this afternoon. My thoughts are with Stephanie, Steve and their family; and the wider team who are no doubt supporting them and pulling together during this distressing time.

It’s been frustrating reading comments from people online speculating whether the cat in question (reported to be a lion) will be euthanised. It happens every time there’s an incident involving a big cat at a zoo and obviously, would never be undertaken unless to prevent further escalation of the incident (i.e. to save the life of somebody in the enclosure at the time). Some members of the general public seem to get confused with attacks by domestic animals (e.g. dogs), which would present an continuing/ongoing risk if allowed to live in contact with people.
 
Swanson02 said:
Will they be forced to put down the animal?
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No. It would only be deemed necessary if it was an in the moment action required to mitigate further damage. For example, the animal was actively attacking somebody in the exhibit with it at the time; or had escaped and presented a danger to human life.

Further/ongoing mitigation would be normal containment protocols. The animal is/will always be dangerous; but theoretically, no more so than any other member of its species if held in protected contact.
 
Darling Downs Zoo will reopen Tuesday:

Updates/clarification from the zoo:

CLARIFICATION FROM INCIDENT STORY

The injured person was not one of our immediate family nor a keeper.
The animal involved was not an animal which has recently cubbed.
The animal will definitely not be put down or punished in any way.

INCIDENT AT DARLING DOWNS ZOO TODAY
At approximately 8.30 this morning a much loved member of our family was watching keepers working in the carnivore precinct.
This is something that she has done many, many times over the past 20 years. 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. At no stage did this animal leave it’s enclosure and there was no risk at all to staff members or members of the public.
She was airlifted to PA Hospital in Brisbane where she is currently being operated on. She is in a stable condition.
Police and Workplace Health and Safety personnel are investigating this incident and have been onsite all morning. The zoo is working with them to establish how this incident occurred but the full details will not be known until our family member can be interviewed.
The zoo will be closed all day today and tomorrow.
We are extremely grateful to the QAS, QPS and LifeFlight for their prompt attendance and to all of the people and organisations who have rallied round us with messages of support.
We will post more details as they are available.
 
Do I unterstand this correctly that the keepers are still handling the big cats at this zoo in free contact and even allow other people to go into the cages with the cats in it?
 
Yassa said:
Do I unterstand this correctly that the keepers are still handling the big cats at this zoo in free contact and even allow other people to go into the cages with the cats in it?
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No, all adult big cats at Darling Downs Zoo are managed in protected contact. The only exception is their lion cubs which are required to be hand-raised due to their mother being unable to rear them.

The zoo have confirmed the attack was by an adult lioness.
 
Nile Hippo Expert said:
The victim of the lion attack has been identified as the sister of zoo owner Stephanie Robinson. :(
https://www.news.com.au/technology/...r/news-story/6f333e21681bae681ee4b39c635af8d3
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Terrible news - my thoughts and prayers go out to Steve, Stephanie, their family during this difficult time. And also Stephanie's sister who's apparently tragically lost her arm as a result of this incident.

Obviously a horrible, horrible accident - the animal is certainly not to blame here.
 
Steve has done an interview with the ABC, here’s a snippet posted on instagram - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DL1DIyQynA4/

Here’s the caption, with some additional
info:
Darling Downs Zoo, south of Toowoomba, has reopened two days after a woman lost her arm in a lioness attack.

The zoo's full program of visitor activities resumed this morning, however Workplace Health and Safety Queensland continues to investigate the circumstances around Sunday's incident.

Owner Steven Robinson says the injured woman is his sister-in-law, a schoolteacher from NSW. "In the enclosure, my wife and a carnivore keeper had just finished cleaning it out, so the animals ... were in a holding enclosure," he said.

"They had just come out of the enclosure ... [and were] locking up the gates and they heard the call [for help]."

Mr Robinson says his sister-in-law has stayed at the zoo regularly over the past 20 years and is aware of the safety regulations.

He says he is yet to speak to her, as she is still recovering in Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital, but that she did not enter the enclosure.

"Nobody saw what happened ... it was all over in a yet,
split second," Mr Robinson says.

He says one of the zoo's keepers, who is well-versed in first aid, "saved her life".


I think you can pretty clearly see the stress and upset both the incident and the social media/media reaction has understandably caused him and his family. It’s nice to see DDZ has continued their history of keeping the public as up to date as they can with events, positive and negative. My thoughts are certainly with the Robinson family and DDZ team at this time
 
Tigergal said:
Steve has done an interview with the ABC, here’s a snippet posted on instagram - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DL1DIyQynA4/

Here’s the caption, with some additional
info:
Darling Downs Zoo, south of Toowoomba, has reopened two days after a woman lost her arm in a lioness attack.

The zoo's full program of visitor activities resumed this morning, however Workplace Health and Safety Queensland continues to investigate the circumstances around Sunday's incident.

Owner Steven Robinson says the injured woman is his sister-in-law, a schoolteacher from NSW. "In the enclosure, my wife and a carnivore keeper had just finished cleaning it out, so the animals ... were in a holding enclosure," he said.

"They had just come out of the enclosure ... [and were] locking up the gates and they heard the call [for help]."

Mr Robinson says his sister-in-law has stayed at the zoo regularly over the past 20 years and is aware of the safety regulations.

He says he is yet to speak to her, as she is still recovering in Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital, but that she did not enter the enclosure.

"Nobody saw what happened ... it was all over in a yet,
split second," Mr Robinson says.

He says one of the zoo's keepers, who is well-versed in first aid, "saved her life".


I think you can pretty clearly see the stress and upset both the incident and the social media/media reaction has understandably caused him and his family. It’s nice to see DDZ has continued their history of keeping the public as up to date as they can with events, positive and negative. My thoughts are certainly with the Robinson family and DDZ team at this time
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I agree that we can commend Steve, Stephanie and Darling Downs Zoo on their transparency. It’s stemmed any misinformation shared online in the wake of the incident (including in the media).

It’s an unfortunate fact that incidents like these are fodder for the media. The numerous achievements of Darling Downs Zoo have only ever received a fraction of the coverage.

Nonetheless, it was heartening to see positive comments from those in the industry in an article yesterday:

https://www.news.com.au/technology/...ws-story/6f333e21681bae681ee4b39c635af8d3?amp

Industry sources said Stephanie and her husband Steve were very well respected and had a long history with big cats.

“The family have always had carnivores and has a long history with them. The zoo is like the largest importer of animals into Australia,” another said.

“Steve has done so much for private zoos being able to import their own animals and commercially give a chance to compete with government zoos who have never-ending pockets.”
 
Extended footage of the press conference Steve held regarding the incident that has taken place.


I personally applause Steve for addressing the situation composed and informed during these terrible circumstances. Hats off to him. It's heart warming to see comments on media posts flooded with messages of awe and respect in regards to how Steve has approached this situation.
 
Yassa said:
Do I unterstand this correctly that the keepers are still handling the big cats at this zoo in free contact and even allow other people to go into the cages with the cats in it?
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No - not at all.

We personally don't handle any "Big Cat" once it reaches 20kg in weight - and often before that depending on it's temperament.
 
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Jambo said:
Extended footage of the press conference Steve held regarding the incident that has taken place.


I personally applause Steve for addressing the situation composed and informed during these terrible circumstances. Hats off to him. It's heart warming to see comments on media posts flooded with messages of awe and respect in regards to how Steve has approached this situation.
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Just a final update [hopefully] on this incident.

Steph's sister has confirmed that, despite all of our training over the past 20+ years, she was in the wrong place and doing the wrong thing at the time.

She will pay the consequences for the rest of her life - as will we.

Fortunately she has a very positive attitude to her situation and has now returned home to NSW to continue her recovery and to start her rehabilitation.

We very much appreciate the degree of support that we have received from the general community and also from many in the ZooChat community. You know who you are - thanks heaps.
 
Babirusa said:
Has there been any word on when the coati might be on display?
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Thanks to errors in the American paperwork the Coatis are still in quarantine. Current indications from the Australian government are that they may require them to complete 12 months quarantine here at DDZ. That will have a negative effect on their welfare and also create a massive blockage in our quarantine facility throughput - there are several imports due to be quarantined in that time frame.

Fortunately the Federal government is working collaboratively with us to enable what was to be their display enclosure to be upgraded to equivalent quarantine status to permit the animals to be moved out of our regular quarantine facility. The work to do this, and for it to be audited and approved, will still take several weeks but, when approved, will allow the animals to be on display while completing this extra quarantine.

Watch this space!
 
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