American woman killed by lion at wildlife park had her window all the way down against policy

[Liberal_in_LA]

A lion killed an American woman and injured a man driving through a private wildlife park in Johannesburg on Monday, a park official said.

The attack occurred at around 2:30 p.m. when a lioness approached the passenger side of the vehicle as the woman took photos and then lunged, said Scott Simpson, assistant operations manager at the Lion Park.

"They had their windows all the way down, which is strictly against policy," he said. "The lion bit the lady through the window." The driver then tried to punch the lion and was scratched by the animal.


Park staff quickly chased the lion away from the car and an ambulance arrived promptly. "Unfortunately, she did pass away," said Simpson, adding that the U.S. Embassy had been informed.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/South-African-media-report-tourist-killed-in-lion-6299075.php

[BlueJazz]

1. Geez...Lady...They're not very large Kitty Cats. They're handsome monsters that eat large things.

e

[hifiguy]

29. Yup. You do not get careless around 300-500 pound carnivorous predators.

The lion was just doing what lions will do.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. That's very sad.

But it's always a good idea to follow the rules when lions are involved.

[brooklynite]

3. Apparently she didn't see the "Don't Feed the Animals" sign?

[closeupready]

6. In another article I read, park staff claim signage is everywhere -

don't feed the animals, leave windows rolled up, lock the doors, etc. but that visitors simply will not obey the rules.

I'm sorry for her loved ones, but this is like riding a motorbike without a helmet, or extreme rock climbing.

[CentralMass]

4. She was on a listening tour

[Aerows]

30. Sounds like

she was on a "not listening" tour.

You don't mess around with even >50lbs. wild carnivores, much less those that outweigh you and their literal living is skinning the flesh of off bone before crunching those down next.

[olddots]

5. who came up with idea of drive thru wildlife parks ?

probably someone as smart as a person who drive thru with their windows open .

Free market enterprise at its dumbest .

[Nye Bevan]

13. They're fine if you keep your windows up.

And I would think that rich tourists paying the admission fee probably pays for a lot of conservation.

[countryjake]

18. Shouldn't tourism efforts to view such creatures alive make more profit...

than caging them in a zoo or poaching or hunting them does?

I see these places as a way for the locals to make a living by keeping such wonders safe, alive, and where they belong.

I might be wrong, but it seems to me that it's a good way to demonstrate that living wildlife has value, to those who are trying to survive amongst them.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

26. Some movie director, trying out an amber-based monster idea.

[bigwillq]

27. Steven Spielberg and Michael Crichton

[NickB79]

41. You need revenue to create and maintain land for wildlife conservation

It's not as simple as the government setting aside land and saying "Good enough", especially on a continent like Africa, where widespread poaching and constant encroachment by farmers, ranchers, loggers and miners is ever-present. If you want to give locals an alternative to clearcutting land, shooting wildlife and plowing under savanna, you need to generate income.

Even in the US, we'd have far less land for wildlife if it weren't for the billions of dollars that are generated by people using wilderness areas for hiking, camping, fishing, and hunting.

The only thing that comes close to generating the income of a drive-through park in that area would be trophy hunting by rich US and European hunters. I'd rather see the drive-through parks.

[TwilightGardener]

7. The last shot in the camera has got to be pretty interesting.

[Liberal_in_LA]

40. from reports it was

[Jefferson23]

8. How awful. It is difficult to understand how she was unafraid, they're huge and their teeth are huge

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. probably let her guard down. Didn't realize how fast they can move. Lion probably "faked her out"

my house cats will do that. Act really relaxed when they are planning to pounce.

[RebelOne]

10. Many years ago, during the late '60s, there was a park

in Florida called Lion Country Safari where you drive through the park with the lions and other wildlife roaming free. We were cautioned to keep the car windows up, which we did. The closest I ever came to touching a lion was in the petting section where I was able to rub the tummy of a lion cub.

[bullwinkle428]

11. We went there when I was a kid back in the early 1970s! Even then, I knew

enough to be scared shitless over the idea of the lions possibly breaking through the car windows or doors and dragging me off as a meal...

[smokey nj]

12. We had something like that in NJ too. It was called Jungle Habitat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_Habitat

[exboyfil]

19. Went to Lion Country Safari with a school

group in the early 1970s. The school bus had a hood which jutted out. You guessed it - a lion jumped on the hood and went eye to eye with the driver. It was pretty exciting. Not sure when the lion jumped off.

[WinkyDink]

22. Drove through Longleat in England. I hadn't realized how big tigers are!

[onethatcares]

23. while stationed in Anchorage AK in the

early 70s there was a lion kept in a cage at the local A&W.

I never felt brave enough to get close enough to pet it. Ocassionally it would take a very powerful piss though, you didn't want to be near that.

[Nye Bevan]

14. I just hope there are no consequences for the lioness.

She was just acting according to her natural instinct.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

15. Since she didn't actually eat the woman

hopefully, the lioness will suffer no consequences. Had she actually eaten the woman, I think she might have suffered a horrible fate.

[closeupready]

16. I think that I read the park will not destroy her.

These recent attacks have been attributed to tourist non-adherence to park policies.

I'll see if I can find the article.

[lumberjack_jeff]

21. Of course not. People won't pay money to see where the lion used to live. n/t

[countryjake]

17. There's a very good reason why rolled windows & locked doors...

are the rules whilst driving thru Lion country.

That woman, apparently, had NOT seen this video:

[onethatcares]

25. that gives an entirely different

definition to "drive through restaurant".

[countryjake]

36. I envisioned her signaling to the other lions, "Now watch this."

"Wanna see me make some humans jump?"

All of the laughter in that car shows that those tourists had no idea how close they came.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. "Oh my gosh, I didn't know they could do that!!"

They're cats. They're crafty and smart and they can figure things out. Maybe that wasn't just a lucky trial and error occurrence. Maybe those lions have learned how to open car doors and now they're doing it deliberately - maybe it's just out of curiosity, but you don't want to find out the hard way.

[countryjake]

32. That was my thought when I'd first seen the video...

when did that lioness learn that the shiny thingy on the door was the way inside? Ha!

I remember how my long-gone kitty worked at getting doors to open. He'd found a convenient perch right next to a doorknob and finally learned to use both paws to turn it. A room that he didn't even particularly want into...he just opened that door because he could!

Curiosity.

[Cleita]

33. My house cat knows how to open doors.

He hasn't figured out how to unlock them though.

[alphafemale]

35. GAH!

You smell like noms.

[countryjake]

37. Or...more likely...

"Do you mind? Can't you see we're napping here?"

[cwydro]

20. People.

Sheesh.

[mainer]

24. I've been on safari in open trucks

They told us we were safe as long as we stayed in the vehicle. Apparently that's not true!

[Aerows]

31. Lion CUBS

even about about 10 weeks, are bigger than a Maine Coon cat, and those are humongous. You don't *ever* fool with wild carnivores. Foxes, bobcats, weasels etc. things we will see on a regular basis here in the US are nothing to be fooled with and they are 1/8th the body weight of a full grown lion. If it survives by killing prey day in, day out, you in the office aren't going to be much of a match just because you logged into the computer.

[samsingh]

34. this is sad, but wtf? these are large animals that are not domesticated.

one leap and that's it.

[Chathamization]

38. Seems like keeping the windows down might be typical behaviour for visitors

(for anyone concerned - no one in this video is harmed, but they are exhibiting extremely risky behavior)

[tblue37]

39. That fool still didn't even roll up the window after ducking back inside! nt