Six-year-old girl ‘covered in blood’ after peacock attack at zoo

‘Jessica has recovered now but it was a traumatic experience. It could easily have been an eye’

A ZOO has put up warning signs about its “free range” animals after a six-yearold girl was attacked by a peacock and needed hospital treatment.

Jessica Redfern, from Torquay, Devon, was “covered in blood” after the incident in an area of Paignton Zoo where visitors are encouraged to interact with animals.

Guy Redfern, her father, said: “I don’t want anything to happen to the peacocks and I don’t want anything to happen to the zoo but there needs to be more information.” He also said he had been disappointed by the zoo’s “casual” approach to the incident, which happened when his wife, Lisa, took their daughter to the zoo.

Mr Redfern said: “My wife turned her back for a minute then heard a scream.

“It was our daughter completely covered in blood. The peacock had sliced right through the end of her nose. It had clawed her neck and sliced a capillary vessel in her nose. My wife’s friend is a nurse and they quickly cleaned her up and took her to casualty.”

After the attack on Jessica, her family said she spent several hours at hospital, where the wound was glued.

Paignton Zoo achieved national fame in BBC television series The Zoo Keepers – a 1998 fly-on-the-wall documentary series – and in the CBBC children’s series The Zoo.

Mr Redfern said they were asked to fill in accident forms as they left the zoo: “We thought it was a bit more important to get the child to hospital than to mess around with forms.

“I was a little bit disappointed with the zoo’s very casual approach. The following day I had quite a wishy-washy phone call from them. We aren’t asking for compensation but there are no signs that tell children not to go near the peacocks. Through the eyes of a small child, the peacocks are there in the petting area and they don’t know they can’t approach them in the same way they approach the goats.

“Jessica has recovered now but it was a traumatic experience. It could easily have been an eye.”

Paignton Zoo said two first-aiders responded to the incident. A spokesman said: “We responded quickly, treated Jessica professionally and followed our procedures.

“Our staff did not get the impression that Mrs Redfern was disappointed with our response on the day.”

The spokesman said he did not believe the zoo’s attitude had been “wishy washy” or “uncaring”, and added: “Thanks to Mr Redfern’s suggestion, we’ve put a sign up in the entrance hall telling people that we have free range animals and asking parents to supervise children at all times.”