A video circulating online captures the frightening moment a tourist’s hand was mauled by a lion. The man had put his hand across a fence to pet and stroke lions in an enclosure when one of them attacked him. He was rushed to a hospital to be treated for his serious injuries.
Tourist Pieter Nortje, 55, and his wife were celebrating their wedding anniversary by participating in a guided tour of a game lodge in South Africa when the incident took place, reports Metro.
The video shows Nortje putting his hand across the fence to stroke a lion. “If you bite me, then I’m going to bite you back,” he says according to DailyMail. He then reaches out to stroke the female lion. “Come here lovey, let daddy stroke you,” DailyMail reports him as saying. However, the lioness grabs his hand and refuses to let go for a few seconds.
The video ends shortly after even as you can hear Nortje’s wife screaming “It’s biting him, it’s biting him!”
They never learn pic.twitter.com/KDtWPRYrCr
— African (@ali_naka) April 10, 2019
Following the scary incident, Nortje was rushed to the hospital for his serious injuries and septic shock.
Meanwhile, the park denied responsibility for the incident. “There are warning signs everywhere. Mr Nortje stuck his hand through the electric fence to touch the lions and was bitten,” a spokesperson said according to Evening Standard.
First Published: Apr 19, 2019 15:21 IST
