Lioness escapes Iran zoo with mate after killing keeper

Security forces in the city of Arak corral feline pair back alive after female managed to open the cage and attack guard who had fed them

By AFP 31 January 2022, 2:13 pm

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An lioness seen with her 6-weeks-old Asiatic lion cubs, at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem on May 6, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

TEHRAN, Iran — A female lion in an Iranian zoo attacked and killed a keeper and escaped with a mate before the pair was captured again, local media reported on Monday.

“The lioness, which has been in the zoo for several years, managed to open a door of the cage, get out and then attack the 40-year-old guard who had just brought food to the pair of felines,” a zoo employee told state broadcaster IRIB.

He said “the two animals managed to escape” Sunday from their cage in the zoo in the city of Arak, Markazi province, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of Tehran.

“Immediately after the incident, security forces took control of the zoo,” Amir Hadi, the governor of the province was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

He added that “efforts to capture the two felines alive have been successful.”