A BRITISH tourist's arm was bitten off by a lion after she put her hand inside its mouth during a visit to a zoo.

Anne Richards, 54, was in a serious condition in hospital after her right arm was chewed off by the lioness called Marta.

Grandmother Anne was on a week's holiday in Benidorm when she went on the excursion to an animal sanctuary that cares for abused animals.

Her sister, Carol Jones, who was also on the day-trip, has told family that Anne and other tourists were encouraged to stroke the animal and put their hands in its mouth.

But, as animal lover Anne, from Neath, south Wales, put her hand into the lioness's open mouth, it suddenly snapped and closed its jaws around her arm.

Holidaymakers screamed in horror as 4ft 9in Anne collapsed to the floor with her arm torn off below the elbow.

She was flown to hospital in Villajoyosa, where she underwent emergency surgery.

Her husband, Jimmy, and the couple's two children, Amanda, 30, and Michael, 33, were due to fly out to be at her bedside.

Sanctuary owner Serafin Domenech claims Anne climbed a three-metre high barrier to stick her fingers into the lions' compound. But hospital porter Jimmy, 60, blasted the claims as "totally ridiculous".

He said: "There is no way my wife could have climbed a three-metre fence.

"She suffers from osteoporosis and also from angina.

"My sister-in-law phoned me from Spain and said Anne was invited to put her hand into the lion's mouth by sanctuary staff.

"She decided to try it and the lioness grabbed her arm and started biting it."

Jimmy said his wife was an animal lover and a trip to a safari park would have been her ideal day out.

He paid £400 for the Spanish break for his wife and her sister as a late Christmas present.

The pair flew out a week ago and went on the day-trip on the last day of their holiday.

Jimmy said: "I got a lump sum from my employers when I turned 60 and I used some of it to give my wife a holiday treat.

"But now I wish I hadn't after this awful thing happened to her."

Daughter Amanda added: "My mother would not dream of climbing a fence and sticking her finger through.

"She is only 4ft 9ins tall and has been frightened of heights all her life. She can't even face using a lift."

The couple's four grandchildren Jamie, nine, Jodie, six, Lewys, four, and Jack, three, have been told of the tragedy.

Anne's sister, Margaret Higgins, 53, also of Neath, called for the animal sanctuary to be shut down.

She said: "It's ridiculous that they invite people that close to the lions.

"All wild animals can turn. But you don't take that kind of risk with a lion do you?

"We're just grateful that Anne has survived. It could have been so much worse."

The attack was being investigated by Spanish authorities yesterday but park owner Serafin Domenech was blaming Mrs Richards for causing the attack.

In an interview on Spanish TV, he said: "The lady climbed up the three- metre high barrier. She climbed to the top and stuck her fingers inside the enclosure."

The El Arca sanctuary near Alicante, in south-east Spain, houses seven adult lions and 12 cubs and specialises in the rescue, treatment and protection of abused animals.