According to authorities in Frederick County, a zookeeper is hospitalized in critical condition after she was attacked by a 300-pound male jaguar at the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo. The woman's name has not been released.

As zoo officials said, the woman entered into the enclosure housing 2 jaguars, but it appears she did not secure the area. Both animals that inhabit the cage where the attack took place were in quarantine Monday. The woman was attacked around 11 a.m. Sunday while working in the interior den area of the jaguar enclosure, the zoo said in a statement.

The woman was bitten several times and flown to Baltimore. When she called for help, staff moved the animals from the interior den to the exterior exhibit area, the statement said. The woman was given first aid by staff and emergency medical technicians before being brought to Maryland Shock Trauma in Baltimore.

The worker suffered several bite wounds, according to Harold Domer, Frederick County Animal Control director. According to the same source, an inspection Monday showed the door "has several devices that allow the door to be locked." He called the safety precautions "extremely adequate." It was not clear how the male jaguar was able to pass through the door to the den. Calls and e-mail requests for details from zoo officials Monday were not immediately returned.

The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and on average the largest and most powerful feline in the Western Hemisphere.