Cop who attended lion attack on Aussie zookeeper says call out 'absolutely harrowing'

An Australian zookeeper is in critical condition after suffering bites to the head and neck from two lions on Friday morning.

The 35-year-old woman is in a critical but stable condition after the attack at Shoalhaven Zoo in North Nowra, south of Sydney.

Emergency services were called to the scene at 10:20am, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Inspector Faye Stockmen said the job was one of the worst she had attended.

"I have never come across a job like this in my career," she said. "It was absolutely harrowing.

"It is an incredibly dangerous situation, both for the patient and the paramedics.

"Being the first to walk into the enclosure was one of the most frightening experiences - we literally had to walk into a lion's den.

"The attack was extremely vicious and paramedics found the woman with severe injuries."

Multiple ambulances were called in to treat the zookeeper who was reported to be cleaning the lion's enclosure at the time of the attack.

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She was given a blood transfusion on-site and was airlifted to a St George Hospital in Sydney for further treatment, 7News reported.

On their website, the zoo says they will be temporarily closed from Wednesday 5pm onward.

This isn't the first attack at the zoo. In 2014 Trent Burton was presenting a crocodile show when one of the animals grabbed him by the hand and dragged him into the enclosure's water.

He received non life-threatening injuries.