A man who works at an animal sanctuary run by US actress Tippi Hedren was critically injured when a tiger attacked him.

The 40-year-old was bitten repeatedly at Shambala Preserve, near the Mojave Desert, about 40 miles from Los Angeles. The victim was flown to hospital.

Hedren founded the centre in the early 1970s and the sanctuary is home to dozens of endangered big cats, most of them born in captivity and given up by circuses, zoos and private owners who could no longer care for the animals.