The Royal Melbourne Zoo management said the boy climbed over a barrier and had his arm resting against a wire fence when he was scratched by the Persian leopard.

"He was in a fair amount of pain because of the lacerations he sustained to his forearm, but other than that he was quite good -- he was a very brave little boy," said paramedic Tom Dukic.

"(The cuts) were very deep and they will probably require surgery," he said.

Zoo director John Gibbons said there would be an investigation into the incident.

"This Persian leopard's 13 and she's been here for all of that time and has been in captivity all of her life, so really this is a strange occurrence," he said.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.