Three lions maul a keeper at a private zoo in Uzbekistan

Three lions escaped from their cages and killed a keeper at the Lion Park private zoo in Tashkent Oblast, Uzbekistan. This was reported December 17 by spokesman for the General Prosecutor's Office of the country Hayot Shamsutdinov.

It is specified that the incident occurred at 05:00 (03:00 Moscow time). The cage with animals forgot to close and they got out. The watchman tried to drive the predators back, but the lions mauled him. Other zoo employees noticed what happened four hours later. They used sleeping pills to return the animals to their cages, but one lion still had to be shot, and a local hunter was invited to the zoo for the task, Gazeta.uz reported.

Police, the district prosecutor, an investigator, employees of the regional ecology department and an armed special police unit arrived at the scene. Specialists examined the scene and ordered a forensic medical and DNA examination.

The Lion Park contained 10 lions and five lion cubs, and besides them - jackal, golden eagle, brown bear and various herbivorous mammals and birds. The cages of all the predators were checked, their doors were firmly closed, and no one else escaped.

The district attorney's office continues to investigate the death of the keeper.

Earlier, on October 1, in Nigeria, a 35-year-old zookeeper at the Presidential Library was gnawed to death by a lion. The man had invited several guests to show them feeding the animal after hours. The keeper did not close the locks on the enclosure, the predator attacked and killed him.