A ZOOKEEPER has been mauled to death by a lion in a horrifying attack after he left open the gate while feeding the beast.
Olabode Olawuyi had raised the animal since birth before it turned on him in the savage kill leaving onlookers shocked.
Olawuyi – from Nigeria‘s Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) – was attacked as he was feeding the lions like usual, the university said in a statement.
He sacrificed his own life to help another person being attacked, say reports.
His colleagues were unable to save him as they stormed the enclosure with guns as the lion had already fatally wounded Olawuyi moments earlier.
The lion has since been put down.
Olawuyi, a veterinary technologist, had been “taking care of the lions since they were born on campus about nine years ago”.
The university’s spokesman, Abiodun Olarewaju continued: “But, tragically, the male lion killed the man who had been feeding them.
“We never knew what came over the male lion that it had to attack (him).
The National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) said in a statement: “The NAAT-OAU, the entire OAU community and the National leadership of NAAT mourns this immense loss and honour his decade-long commitment to the zoological Garden and the care he provided to its animals.”
