Animal rights group PETA says Australia Zoo should be penalised for allowing employees to risk their lives, following a tiger attack at the zoo.
The activist organisation says the serious injuries suffered by a tiger handler during the attack at the Sunshine Coast zoo on Tuesday were also "entirely preventable".
"If his employer had followed standard industry practice and required that protective barriers always be kept between potentially dangerous animals and humans ... the trainer would never have been attacked," PETA said in a statement.
The tiger bit the zoo employee on his neck and shoulder, leaving the 30-year-old victim with two puncture wounds.
He was flown to a Brisbane hospital in a serious but stable condition.
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PETA says the fault lies squarely with Australia Zoo, "who should be penalised for allowing employees to risk their lives by getting into an enclosure with wild animals.
"The best way to protect tigers is by working to preserve their habitat, not to confine them to pens that are nothing like their homes in the wild and forcing them to do tricks or pose for photos."
Australia Zoo keeps three Bengal and eight Sumatran tigers.
