A Chinese zoo employee faces suspension after bringing a 10-year-old girl into a restricted feeding area, where two lions attacked and grabbed her leg through the cage bars in a 30-second struggle captured on video.
Terrifying Attack Caught on Camera
The incident unfolded at Shantou Zhongshan Park Zoo in Guangdong province when a lioness suddenly thrust her paw through the enclosure bars and latched onto the young girl’s leg. Surveillance footage shows the child screaming as a zookeeper grabbed her and attempted to pull her to safety. A second lion joined the attack, reaching through the bars as the child remained trapped. The zoo worker eventually used a metal rod to strike the lioness’s paw, forcing the animal to release its grip on the girl’s pants after the harrowing ordeal.
Violations Led to Attack
Zoo officials confirmed the child was far too young to access the designated feeding area under facility regulations. The staffer who escorted her into the forbidden zone has been suspended pending investigation. Authorities believe the lioness attacked because the girl held meat in her hand, triggering the predator’s hunting instincts. The child was transported to a local hospital, where doctors treated minor leg injuries. Medical staff administered a rabies vaccination as a precautionary measure before discharging her the same day.
Safety Questions at Popular Zoo
Shantou Zhongshan Park Zoo operates interactive animal-feeding programs that attract families throughout the region. Following the attack, management temporarily closed the facility to review safety protocols and training procedures. The incident raises concerns about supervision standards at zoos offering hands-on animal experiences, particularly involving dangerous predators. Chinese authorities have not announced whether additional penalties or regulatory changes will follow the investigation. The suspended employee’s future employment status remains uncertain as officials examine whether proper safety guidelines were communicated and enforced before the attack occurred.
Not too happy, people.
I hope they killed the lions!
Sick!
The lion did nothing wrong. It’s a captured wild animal.
The lions should not be destroyed. They’re wild animals and can be unpredictable. If you read the whole article you would have seen the child had been holding meat which was believed to have triggered the attack. They were acting like wild animals act.
Need better enforements to metal closures. Left to right since it has top to bottom metal.
Quite a scary situation.and a different type of Chinese takeout !!! Wild animals eat people !!! I remember seeing a story where a lion pulled in a little dog and ate it !!
What was it supposed to do with the dog but eat it?
A lioness should not be able to stick its paw through the bars they need to fix that .
How smart was her family to allow her to feed lions that close to the bars? Is this the only such incident at this zoo?