South African Wildlife: An American killed in a lion attack at
Lion Park in South Africa was dragged to her death in mere minutes. The unidentified 22-year-old woman was dragged to her death and another person seriously hurt after the pair left their window down during the drive-thru African safari.
The woman was dragged out of the SUV by the lioness and her companion was injured as he tried to save her from the lion’s jaws at Gauteng Lion Park near Johannesburg.
This incident happened in the middle of the afternoon.
The Tsavo Man-Eaters on display in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois.(Jeffrey Jung/Wikicommons)
It’s believed she had been trying to take pictures with the windows open when the lion attacked.
Police confirmed that she was 22 years old and an American citizen and the US Embassy confirmed the incident has been reported to them.
The park’s manager Scott Simpson said: ‘We don’t know exactly what happened, we do know that there was a car driving to the lion camp and the lion did come through the window and it did bite the lady.
‘Unfortunately the ambulance arrived quite soon but the lady has passed away.’
It is believed that the lion jumped through the window, bit the woman, and a man was injured trying to pull the lion off her, although the park are still trying to piece together the exact sequence of events.
Joshua Sutherland
They have now identified the lioness responsible for the attack and confirmed that they’ve put her in a separate enclosure but say there are no plans as yet to destroy the animal.
The Park’s manager said they don’t have any intention to put the Lioness down because they have huge signs in the park warning tourists to keep their windows closed but will review its safety measures.
