Why a trip to the zoo might not be as safe as you think!

VISITORS and staff at zoos, wildlife parks and gardens have been hurt in a series of bizarre attacks and freak falls, reports reveal.

- BY MATTHEW DAVIS

Incidents include a painful mishap as a tiger was sedated while a child was knocked out after suffering brain freeze from an ice lolly.

Others involved mobility scooters, bamboo mazes, elephant training exercises and Halloween fright night scares.

One employee at Chester Zoo needed five stitches to a face wound after being attacked by a black lemur at feeding time.

The primate had been identified as being potentially violent and should have been locked in a separate enclosure.

But, a report added, the keeper was distracted by a party of schoolchildren, and the lemur then attacked her.

At West Midlands Safari Park in Bewdley, Worcs, an employee strained their arm while stretching to waggle an elephant’s ear. The training exercise is carried out to help the tuskers become used to being handled.