Lion
Park is a 2 km² (500 acre) lion wildlife conservation enclosure in Gauteng
province in South Africa. It is situated near Lanseria Airport and Fourways
within distance of Johannesburg and Pretoria. The park has a large variety of predators
and large herbivores indigenous to Africa. The Lion Park is home to over 80
lions including the rare white lions and many other carnivores such as cheetah,
wild dog, brown and spotted hyena, black backed jackal, and a wide variety of
antelope which roam freely in the antelope area.
It is
in news for wrong reasons – an American tourist who was mauled to death by a
lion took pictures of the cat who killed her just seconds before she pounced,
it is emerging. Police are examining the last haunting photographs taken by the
woman as evidence that she had ignored warnings to keep her windows closed as
she toured the South African safari park. Traumatised tourists who watched as
the nine-year-old lioness killed the holidaymaker, 22, through an open window
have also handed over pictures of the fatal attack.
The
woman aged 22 was dragged and mauled to death by a lion as she left the car
window open during the safari. Another person in the vehicle was seriously
injured. Two families were reportedly driving only metres away from the car and they informed the police that she was
photographing the cat as it approached her vehicle, which was being driven by a
local tour guide. Six adult witnesses,
including two visitors from India, gave their own photographs of the attack and
statements to police confirming that both front windows of the victim’s car
were open throughout her visit to the 20-acre enclosure, where she was
attacked.
The
Operations manager at the Lion Park is
quoted as telling MailOnline that the woman was photographing the lioness
keeping the window open until the moment the lion attacked and the camera of
the dead lady was taken by police as evidence.
In what appears to be an act of foolishness, both the front doors
seemingly were left open as the lioness attacked, while some other lions too
watched from a distance. The tour
guide, who is South African, is recovering in hospital with serious injuries to
his arms after attempting to prize his client from the lion’s jaws. He is
expected to be interviewed by police later.
The
tourist and the guide were taking a 'routine' drive through the 20-acre
compound containing about a dozen big cats near Johannesburg; the lion
reportedly approached from the left of the vehicle, the passenger side and
walked quite close to the car. The U.S.
Embassy confirmed the young woman was an American citizen through its Twitter
account. 'Out of respect for the privacy
of the family, we will not be releasing the name or commenting any further,'
they tweeted further. The American
woman's death was the third big cat attack in four months and all visitors are
instructed to keep all windows shut. The
park, which has attracted many celebrities has more than 85 lions, including rare white
lions, and a variety of other animals, including giraffes and ostriches.
According
to its website, Lion Park guarantees 'super close-up animal views' but it does
order visitors to keep their car windows shut.
The park has previously come under fire for allowing visitors to pet
lion cubs. It was also accused of breeding lions for 'canned hunting', a charge
that the park has refuted. The park
claims that safety instructions are clearly in place, there are signages and
flyers informing people to keep the windows closed. Sad,
that somebody chose to ignore all and ended up losing life tragically.
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
3rd June 2015.
