A man stripped naked and jumped into a lion enclosure at a zoo in Chile in an apparent suicide attempt, forcing staff to shoot dead two lions.
The 20-year-old man, said to be suffering from mental problems, was seriously injured on Saturday after being mauled by the two curious big cats that ignored him initially, but attacked him after he provoked them. The zoo in Santiago was crowded with visitors at the time of the tragedy and a huge crowd saw the whole drama unfold.
Animal rights activists condemned the shooting of the lions, but the zoo said its priority was the man’s life and it had no fast-activating tranquillisers.
According to eyewitnesses Franco luis Ferrada, climbed up on the roof of the lion’s pen and forced his way inside the cage. Once in, he stripped naked in order to make the lions attack him. The lions ignored him at first, but Ferrada started making noise to attract their attention and get them to attack him.
The crowd that had gathered around the lion’s enclosure by that time watched in horror as the lions began mauling Ferrada. However, zoo staff stepped in and hosed the lions in a bid to save the man’s life. When that failed they fired tranquilizer shots but missed the two lions and hit Ferrada on the neck making him unconscious. As the lions began mauling Ferrada again zoo staff was forced to open fire with live rounds and kill the big cats.
Ferrada was rushed in critical condition to a hospital with injuries to his pelvis and head, but is said to be out of danger now.
Santiago Metropolitan Zoo director Alejandra Montalba said she believed the man forced his way through the roof of the enclosure, jumped in and then took off his clothes to get the two lions to attack him.
Montalba said the zoo had an “established protocol” and acted to save the man’s life, adding that staff were “deeply affected” by the deaths of the lions, a male and a female.
“The alarms sounded and the tranquilizer darts were brought in and an independent shooter arrived. The shooter decided to save the life of the person and unfortunately we had to sacrifice two members of our family,” she said.
local media reported that a suicide note was found among the man’s clothing. Dozens of people arrived at the zoo on Saturday night to hold a candlelight vigil for the dead lions.