A Brazilian teenager was mauled by a lioness in full view of zoo visitors on Sunday, after scaling a six-meter wall and safety fencing and shimmying down a tree into the enclosure, authorities said.
The municipal government of the coastal city of Joao Pessoa said a young man — identified by Brazilian media as Gerson de Melo Machado, 19 — had “deliberately invaded the lioness’s enclosure” at the Arruda Camara Zoobotanical Park.
“In a rapid and surprising manner, he climbed a wall over six meters high, scaled the security bars, accessed one of the trees, and entered the enclosure,” the government said in a statement.
Viral videos of the attack showed the lioness, Leona, lying next to the glass separating her from visitors, who gasp in shock as the teen shimmies down a tree.
The lioness spots him and makes a beeline for the tree, pulling Machado down to the ground. Bushes are seen shaking, and the teen stands up one more time before disappearing from view.
“It got him. It got him,” visitors can be heard saying, with exclamations of “my God!”
The government statement said Machado “died from injuries caused by the animal.”
The zoo said in a statement on Instagram that the incident was “extremely sad” and that it was closed while investigations continue.
Park vet Thiago Nery defended safety standards around the lion enclosure, which he said had over eight metres of protection.
“This incident was completely unforeseeable, outside any scenario within the park’s routine.”
The park said that “euthanasia was never considered” for Leona, who “shows no aggressive behavior outside the context of the incident.”
The government statement said that initial investigations showed “the man’s actions may have been a possible suicide attempt.”
Child protection counselor Veronica Oliveira said in a video on Instagram that she had accompanied Machado for eight years as he “went through all the institutional care in this city.”
She said his mother and grandparents suffered from schizophrenia, but state psychiatrists said he merely “had a behavioral problem.”
“He should have been in treatment.”
In other media interviews, Oliveira said Machado had dreamed of being a lion tamer, and once cut through an airport fence and hid in the landing gear of a plane he thought was going to Africa.
“Society, without knowing your story, preferred to throw you into the lion’s den,” she said.
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