A young woman is recovering from surgery after being mauled by a tiger at Dublin Zoo. The woman scaled several safety barriers on Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to reach three Siberian tigers in their compound.

"She pushed her hand through and the tiger reacted as any tiger would and bit her," a zoo spokeswoman said. After receiving first aid, the woman was rushed to hospital by ambulance and underwent emergency surgery on her arm.

"I think she was quite lucky to be able to pull back because normally tigers hold on," said zoo director Leo Oosterweghel.

She and her significant other were carrying alcohol in soft drink bottles, leading zoo officials to believe that "their judgment was impaired."

Dublin zoo, founded in 1830, was famous in the 1920's for supplying the lion that roared at the start of every Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film.