A Granby Zoo employee has suffered serious injuries to her back and neck after being attacked by a lion on Monday morning.

Granby police said they received a call at 9:00 a.m. and assisted emergency medical services at the scene.

According to Granby Zoo Director General Paul Gosselin, three employees were performing routine maintenance in the lion's den, which houses two males and a female.

“(The zookeeper) was preparing for giving the lunch and everything like they're doing, It's a morning drill that they all do in the zoo,” he said, adding that something went wrong and one of the female lions attacked the zookeeper.

“She got bitten in the back,” said Gosselin.

The female attacked the zookeeper, but was driven off after a colleague sprayed the animal with a high-pressure water hose and CO2 gas, which the zoo said is standard procedure when an attack occurs. 

Gosselin praised the quick response of the zoo's employees and the Granby emergency services.

"It happened really quickly," he said. "We got the emergency call on the radio and the other keeper was there to get rid of her with the water house. As soon as we got the signal on the radio, a lot of people were there and of course, the Granby police were there quickly as well with the ambulance."

The victim, a woman in her 20s, has been transported to a hospital in Sherbrooke and her condition has been listed as stable. 

While the circumstances of the attack are not yet known, an investigation will be conducted by the health and work safety commission.

The three lions have been confined in an area not open to the public, pending the results of the investigation.

Animal behaviourist and former Granby Zoo employee Jacinthe Bouchard saidthey do have a strict protocol when it comes to dealing with the lions but isn't ruling out human error.

“The door has locked before you open the door, so it's very strict, but the thing is, we're human sometimes we forget,” she said.

She adds that the zookeeper is lucky to be alive.

“The animal thought it was a toy that's why she's not dead because she would be dead in a second if the animal was aggressive,” said Bouchard.

Granby Zoo officials say this was the first time a lion attack has happened there and they'll be working closely with experts in the industry to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

It's not the first time an employee at a Quebec zoo has been hurt by a big cat, however. In 2013, a zookeeper was gravely injured after being attacked by a Siberian tiger at the St-Felicien zoo.