A female zookeeper is in critical condition at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma unit after she was attacked by a jaguar Sunday morning, at the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo. She was inside the jaguar enclosure and hadn't secured the area where she was working. The woman, whose name was not disclosed, suffered several bite wounds and her condition was critical Sunday evening.

The two jaguars who were in the enclosure at the time have both been quarantined, according to a statement from the zoo. The woman was performing maintenance in an area that would normally be secured, when a male jaguar entered the area and attacked her just before 11 am. Staff members responded to her call for help and they were able to move both animals to another part of the enclosure, secure the site and perform first aid.

The woman was flown by helicopter to Shock Trauma. Both jaguars are current on their rabies shots through September of this year, so no worries about that. This is not the first case of animal attack at the zoo, as a jaguar killed an employee of the Denver Zoo in early 2007. The animal was subsequently shot and killed.

One Catoctin Zoo employee says the zookeeper is lucky to be alive, as the error of not securing an area could have been a fatal one. Such accidents tend to happen on weekends and holidays, when zoos have less staff. Large carnivorous animals require a lot of care and maintenance when kept in captivity. The Catoctin Zoo has 450 animals on 35 acres.