Game farm worker mauled by lioness

A game farm worker’s worst nightmare came true on Sunday after a man was mauled to death by a lioness while fixing a fence and installing a gate.

The Free State police have opened an inquest case after a 43-year-old game farm worker was mauled to death by a lioness on Sunday.

Police spokesperson Captain Lorraine Earle said the victim and his supervisor had just finished putting up a gate at one of the game farm’s lion enclosures.

The workers allegedly left his room and went straight to the enclosure.

One of four lions attacked the worker

“The supervisor screamed to notify him that he must quickly get out as there was a female lion in the enclosure, but it was too late. One of the four lions attacked him, and he lost his life,” Earle said.

The worker’s body was then rescued by the supervisor, and the police confirmed that the lion was euthanized by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

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“The 43-year-old victim died of multiple bite marks on his neck and body,” Earle said.

The Glen police were summoned to the crime scene, and a case on inquest was opened for further investigation.

Other lion attacks

In February, a 62-year-old man from Boikhutso Township in Lichtenburg, North West, was mauled by a lion while working at a lodge and predator park in Ottoshoop near Zeerust.

SABC News reported that Piet Monatle was mauled by the lion while he and his colleagues were offloading lions from a trailer. Monatle demanded justice for what happened to him.

In August 2023, a worker at a property in the Dinokeng Game Reserve in the north of Pretoria was attacked and killed by lions.

The Pretoria Rekord reported that the incident happened while the man was attempting to return to the property at night, and the fencing team discovered human remains in the early hours of 14 August 2023.

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*This article has been edited since publication.