Two African lions in Chilean captivity were shot dead on Saturday, (Sunday in Manila) to rescue a naked man who forced himself into their cage in an apparent suicide attempt.
Terrified visitors inside the Metropolitan Zoo in Santiago de Chile watched in horror, as a man identified as Franco Luis Ferrada, jumped into the lion’s den and began taunting the male and female big cats, The Telegraph reported.
In an attempt to keep the animals at bay, zookeepers first turned a high-pressure rubber hose on the two felines—which had instinctively attacked the intruder.
They then fired a tranquilizer dart to sedate the big cats, according to the report, but ended up hitting Ferrada in the neck instead.
As the lions continued mauling the trespasser, zoo officials had no choice but to shoot the beasts with live rounds, after their previous non-lethal attempts remained futile.
The captive felines reportedly died a short time after, while Ferrada was rushed to a local health clinic and remains in critical condition.
According to local officials at the scene, the 20-year-old lad was carrying a suicide letter when he was finally rescued from the enclosure.
“We are comparing it [the suicide note] with other writing samples,” said sub-commissioner Gerson Sepulveda of Santiago police.
An eyewitness of the gruesome incident was also quoted saying in the report, “There were a lot of children there, and parents covered their eyes while it was going on.”
Another onlooker, Cynthia Vasquez, claimed the zoo staff were slow to react and that Ferrada had been “shouting religious things about Jesus.”
Meanwhile, critics from social media condemned the killings, while also lambasting the zoo for apparently ’mishandling’ the situation
Zoo director Alejandra Montalva, however, justified her staff’s actions, saying they simply followed the “established protocol” to deal with such circumstances.
“When a person’s life is at risk, you have to sacrifice the animals,” she said. “The shooter decided to save the life of the person and unfortunately we had to sacrifice two members of our family.”
The zoo’s representative added that were no fast-acting tranquilizers available to stop the attack in time, and that her staff had been “deeply affected” by the deaths of the lions, a male and female.
A vigil was held for the dead lions near their enclosure on Sunday night.
The pair has reportedly been with the zoo for more than 20 years. Khristian Ibarrola