Man killed by lion at zoo in Johannesburg

PA

A man has been killed by a lion at the Parys Zoo Farm in South Africa.

Joe Ramonetha, 63, had worked at Johannesburg Zoo for 40 years, and had come out of retirement to work at the rural site, about an hour from the city.

According to the report in the Telegraph, Mr Ramonetha was killed by a 10-year-old female white lion called Nyanga, which had reportedly wandered through a gate that had accidentally been left open as he prepared the animals' food.

He was bitten once on the neck and died when he arrived at the hospital. Zoo staff sedated Nyanga and returned her to her enclosure.

A spokesman for the zoo told the paper: "He had been with us for so long and had an amazing bond with the animals.

"There will be a full investigation and we will decide then what to do with Nyanga but it's clear that this was just an instinctive reaction on her part, perhaps because he tried to run away. She didn't take his body away like prey – she bit him once in the neck and that was it.

"It's just an unfortunate accident and devastating for all of us."

The news follows a surge of animal attacks on humans in recent months.

At the end of January, a pregnant woman was attacked by a leopard in the largest city in India's northeast Assam state, Guwahati.

Just a couple of weeks earlier, one man was killed and another partially scalped by another leopard attack in the same city.

And, just last week, a group of tourists enjoying a sightseeing tour at a wildlife park in China were left badly shaken after their bus was set upon by tigers.


Sign up to our weekly newsletterFollow us on TwitterBecome a fan on Facebook