A cleaner, attacked by lions on his first day working at Shanghai Wildlife Park on Tuesday, is still critical, according to sources with Pudong Renji Hospital.

Zhang Huabang is being treated in the hospital's intensive care unit for wounds to his face, shoulders and legs.

He was attacked by up to seven lions on his first day as a cleaner at the zoo when he took a shortcut through their cage.

"He is stable but I can't say he is totally out of danger," said a nurse who asked not to be named "He's very badly injured and received surgery to injuries all over his body."

Before beginning work, Zhang, 34, from Sichuan Province, was reminded by a colleague to be careful because a river where they were working was very close to the animal enclosures, Shanghai Labour Daily reported.

Returning after the noon break, Zhang saw a gate leading to one enclosure was not locked and entered it, hoping to take a shortcut, he said on Wednesday.

The gate should have been locked; It leads into the lions' enclosure.

At least one lion leapt on him, sinking its claws into his body and mauling his legs.

The exact number of lions involved in the mauling is unknown, as local media cited numbers between three and seven, while the park claimed just one.

"Every part of my body hurt. I thought I was going to die," Zhang said.

An employee in a lookout post raised the alarm and a park jeep rushed to the scene.

First squirting water to drive the animals back, the rescue crew then threw live chickens into the enclosure to distract them while Zhang was pulled into the jeep.

He was taken to Pudong Renji Hospital and underwent emergency surgery.

Zhang's wife, Wang Runtao, said that the muscles in his legs were seriously damaged where he had been mauled down to the bone.

"Up to now, no one has raised the issue of compensation," Shen Jianguo, a spokesman for the park told China Daily yesterday. "Actually, Zhang is not a regular employee. He belongs to a cleaning team and the park hired the team to clean the river." The park had already paid some of Zhang's medical fees, he added.

According to Shen, the park is investigating the cause of the accident. "If the door wasn't locked as Zhang said, we should look for the person who bears responsibility for that," he added.

(China Daily October 14, 2005)