A lion that had escaped from a private zoo in the southern Turkish province of Antalya was shot by a group of hunters after authorities launched an extensive search operation and the animal attacked a person and left him with multiple injuries.
Turkish media reported that the feline, named Zeus, had escaped at around 3.30 am yesterday from a private zoo located next to the D-400 motorway in the Ilıca district of the town of Manavgat, a coastal district halfway between Antalya and Alanya, with no known reason for the animal’s escape from the facility, according to local authorities.
When the emergency services were alerted, several police officers were dispatched to the park. While searching for the animal, the officers heard noises and screams coming from an area next to a hotel about 800 metres away. Upon arrival, they fired shots in the air to scare off the lion, which was attacking a neighbour – identified as Süleyman Kır – who was working in a field in the area and suffered serious injuries, being immediately taken to hospital.
From there, the lion went to a nearby wooded area, and police and gendarmerie teams cordoned off the area trying to locate and capture the animal, and the search continued throughout the morning. Finally, after intense efforts, at around 11:30 a.m. a group of hunters located and shot down the lion down in the forest.
“If I had been a little less strong, I might not be here right now,” said Kır, the local farmer, covered in bandages all over his body, including his head. “If it had been someone else who could not defend himself, they would have died,” he insisted.
Condemnation from environmental groups
The incident has sparked protests from many members of the public, as well as environmental groups and animal rights associations, who have criticised the living conditions in which these exotic animals are kept and condemned the decision to kill the lion.
Authorities claim that the lion had to be killed because in his condition he posed a threat, something with which these groups disagree: “Zeus was a lion who should have been roaming the African savannah, not locked up in a cage for 3 years“, one of the environmental associations denounced in a statement. The fact that images of the hunters posing with the lion’s lifeless body were widely disseminated through the media and social networks, has sparked even more criticism from activists.
In a statement, the DKMP – the official body in charge of managing Turkey’s national parks – announced the initiation of legal action against the zoo where the lion was kept for possible violation of the animal abuse law and park regulations. The zoo in question, now closed and which promotes itself as housing “the largest lion family in the world”, is home to around 30 lions as well as other animals such as tigers, bears and wolves.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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