KEY POINTS:
A Whangarei wildlife park worker has had hospital treatment for injuries believed to have been caused by a lion or a tiger.
The park is being investigated by Occupational Safety and Health.
Labour Department communications manager Frances Martin said that the investigation came after a person was treated at Whangarei Hospital's emergency department for arm injuries.
There have been several unsubstantiated reports that a female worker at Zion Wildlife Gardens had her arm scratched by a lion or tiger.
The park owner, TV "Lionman" Craig Busch, has not replied to requests from Whangarei's newspaper, the Northern Advocate to talk about this or other alleged injuries caused by the park's celebrated big cats.
The paper is waiting for the Northland District Health Board and Department of Labour to answer questions put under the Official Information Act.
The health board would not say if any other people had been treated for similar injuries at Whangarei Hospital, and the Labour Department would not say if it had conducted any other investigations into the lion park.
Busch and Zion Wildlife Gardens are familiar to New Zealanders because of a television series featuring his lion park and his travels to Africa to obtain white lion cubs.
Doubts about the future of the park surfaced last year, when the Whangarei District Council served an abatement notice for a breach of the conditions of a resource consent granted in 2002.
But the park, which houses 48 lions and tigers, had a stay of execution when council commissioners granted retrospective consent.
During the consent submission process, several safety, noise and other nuisance issues were raised by neighbours.
The "Lionman" was also involved in a high profile court case last year.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting then partner Karen Greybrook in January 2005 after he found her in bed with a married couple, Des and Hermes White.
Busch, 42, was convicted and ordered to pay Ms Greybrook $8000.
Nine other charges, including injuring with intent to injure and sexual violation, were dropped.
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE
