Lions maul Aus diplomat in Zim

SYDNEY – A young Australian diplomat was mauled by lions at a wildlife park in Zimbabwe but survived because her boyfriend scared the animals away, a report said yesterday.

Gemma Huggins, 27, was visiting the Lion and Cheetah park outside Harare when a lion grabbed her by the head and shook her, The Sunday Telegraph reported. The diplomat, who had arrived in Zimbabwe on her first foreign posting a month earlier, was lucky to survive after the lion’s teeth came within millimetres of her jugular vein, it said.TV reports said she was attacked by more than one animal.Huggins was treated for severe injuries to her head, neck, torso and legs and had several skin grafts at the Unitas Hospital in Pretoria, it added.Australia’s department of foreign affairs and trade confirmed that a diplomat from the High Commission in Harare had been hospitalised after an incident at a wildlife park.”The injuries to the staff member were not life threatening,” a department spokesman told AFP, adding that the diplomat had requested her privacy be respected.The Sunday Telegraph said that Huggins, who is recovering at home in Canberra after weeks of extensive treatment in South Africa, was still too traumatised to speak about the March 4 incident.Australia maintains diplomatic ties with Zimbabwe, despite being an open critic of President Robert Mugabe and having imposed some sanctions against his regime.Nampa-SapaThe diplomat, who had arrived in Zimbabwe on her first foreign posting a month earlier, was lucky to survive after the lion’s teeth came within millimetres of her jugular vein, it said.TV reports said she was attacked by more than one animal.Huggins was treated for severe injuries to her head, neck, torso and legs and had several skin grafts at the Unitas Hospital in Pretoria, it added.Australia’s department of foreign affairs and trade confirmed that a diplomat from the High Commission in Harare had been hospitalised after an incident at a wildlife park.”The injuries to the staff member were not life threatening,” a department spokesman told AFP, adding that the diplomat had requested her privacy be respected.The Sunday Telegraph said that Huggins, who is recovering at home in Canberra after weeks of extensive treatment in South Africa, was still too traumatised to speak about the March 4 incident.Australia maintains diplomatic ties with Zimbabwe, despite being an open critic of President Robert Mugabe and having imposed some sanctions against his regime.Nampa-Sapa