Lion escapes zoo in southern Turkey, farmer who fought it off seriously injured
The male lion, named Zeus, escaped his cage at Land of Lions in Manavgat, a resort city on the Mediterranean coast, in the early hours, the private Demiroren News Agency said. A few hours later, he attacked the 53-year-old man, who was sleeping outdoors after watering pistachio trees.
'I heard a whispering sound. When I lifted the blanket, the lion fell on me,' Suleyman Kir told the agency. 'We struggled and fought. ... I grabbed his neck and squeezed. At that moment, he ran off a little.'
The Ilhas News Agency reported that police officers searching for the lion heard the noise of the struggle and scared it off by shooting into the air. Ilhas also showed footage of the lion strolling outside homes before disappearing into scrubland.
Kir was hospitalized with wounds to his head, shoulder and legs. Police teams and drones found the lion in a nearby wooded area.
Land of Lions' website boasts that the park holds 'the world's largest lion family' of more than 30 animals. It also contains tigers, bears and wolves.
It wasn't clear how the lion escaped but an investigation has been launched. The zoo did not comment on Sunday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
12 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Istanbul mayor's jailed lawyer denounces ‘fabricated' charges
The lawyer for Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who like the mayor is in jail under an expanding crackdown on Turkey's opposition, told Reuters on Monday he faces 'entirely fabricated' charges meant to criminalize the right to a legal defense. Mehmet Pehlivan, who had already been detained for a day in March, was held last month on charges of membership of an unspecified criminal organization. A probe into the main opposition party, Imamoglu's CHP, was expanded well beyond Istanbul at the weekend, and dozens were detained. The arrest in March of Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, sparked the biggest street protests in a decade, and a sharp selloff in the lira and other Turkish assets. In written responses from prison, Pehlivan said his arrest amounted to a bid to criminalize not only legal defense but the profession of lawyers as a whole: 'We are faced with a mindless judicial practice that has severed its ties with reality and truth.' Pehlivan said the evidence presented against him was false and based on a purported phone call and meetings he had never held, and alleged ties to a person he had never met. He said his work for Imamoglu had been restricted to his duties as a lawyer. 'For the first time in the Republic's history, the practicing the law has been categorized as a crime,' he wrote. 'Even if this categorization causes a result for me today, its impact is a threat to all lawyers.' The government rejects opposition allegations that the probe is politicized and anti-democratic, saying the judiciary is independent. In a statement on Sunday, Erdogan's office said that members of the ruling AK Party had also been investigated and arrested in the past over similar crimes. The office did not immediately respond to Pehlivan's allegation that the charges against him were baseless and a threat to legitimate legal activity.
Al Arabiya
12 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Pakistan confiscates 18 lions kept as pets in crackdown after attack
Eighteen lions kept illegally as pets have been confiscated in Pakistan's Punjab region, authorities said on Monday as they launched a crackdown after one escaped from a house and attacked a woman and two children. The woman suffered scratches and bruises, and the two children, aged five and seven, were hospitalized after the attack last week but their injuries were not life-threatening, provincial wildlife officials said. The lion, which was kept without a license in a house in Lahore, was confiscated and sent to a local safari park, said Mubeen Elahi, director general of the provincial Wildlife and Parks Department. The owner was later arrested, police said. Keeping exotic animals as pets has been fueled by social media, with owners often showing off their animals online as status symbols. 'According to the new regulations for keeping big cats, no individual is allowed to keep a lion without a license, without adhering to the required cage size, and without following other standard operating procedures,' Elahi said. The punishment is up to seven years in jail. As well as confiscating the 18 animals, the department raided 38 lion and tiger breeding farms and arrested eight people for violating the rules, he said, adding that all farms will be inspected by the end of this week. There are 584 lions and tigers in homes and breeding farms in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, he said. 'I know plenty of people who keep big cats as pets,' said Qaim Ali, 30, who himself had a lion but sold it after it attacked his nephew. 'Most of them are not interested in breeding but keep them as a symbol of power and influence in society.'
Arab News
13 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan confiscates 18 lions kept as pets in crackdown after attack
LAHORE: Eighteen lions kept illegally as pets have been confiscated in Pakistan's Punjab region, authorities said on Monday as they launched a crackdown after one escaped from a house and attacked a woman and two children. The woman suffered scratches and bruises, and the two children, aged five and seven, were hospitalized after the attack last week but their injuries were not life-threatening, provincial wildlife officials said. The lion, which was kept without a license in a house in Lahore, was confiscated and sent to a local safari park, said Mubeen Elahi, director general of the provincial Wildlife and Parks Department. The owner was later arrested, police said. Keeping exotic animals as pets has been fueled by social media, with owners often showing off their animals online as status symbols. 'According to the new regulations for keeping big cats, no individual is allowed to keep a lion without a license, without adhering to the required cage size, and without following other standard operating procedures,' Elahi said. The punishment is up to seven years in jail. As well as confiscating the 18 animals, the department raided 38 lion and tiger breeding farms and arrested eight people for violating the rules, he said, adding that all farms will be inspected by the end of this week. There are 584 lions and tigers in homes and breeding farms in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, he said. 'I know plenty of people who keep big cats as pets,' said Qaim Ali, 30, who himself had a lion but sold it after it attacked his nephew. 'Most of them are not interested in breeding but keep them as a symbol of power and influence in society.'
