A woman has tragically lost her life following a lion attack at a safari park in Crimea.
The victim, Leokadiya Perevalova, aged 41, had worked at Taigan safari park for 17 years.
The park, which is under the ownership of Oleg Zubkov, is recognized as the largest breeding facility in Europe for lions and other large predatory mammals.
This facility houses approximately 60 African lions.
The incident occurred when Leokadiya made a critical mistake, resulting in her being attacked by a group of lions at the park on October 16.
She sustained a bite to the neck and could not survive the injuries.
It seems there was no one nearby to assist Leokadiya during the incident.
In a statement, the park’s owner expressed: “The staff who found the body, unfortunately, could not provide any help because the lions had just mauled it.
“Unfortunately, no one was around and there was no one to help. When the staff found it, it was a breathless body.”
He further stated: “I was horrified by the fact that the lions, despite the fact that they were well-fed, healthy, strong, they not only killed, but also nibbled, started to gnaw the legs.
“And this is the horror, because if lions have tasted human meat, they become cannibals. They are predators, we cannot have claims to them, because this is the nature of higher predators. And it makes no sense to deal with them. Safety rules and norms of behaviour are written in blood, unfortunately, in all zoos.”
Oleg praised Leokadiya as ‘the most experienced employee who knew all the biographies of our lions, tigers and other animals’.
Regarding the circumstances of the incident, Oleg explained: “The transfer gate from the outer enclosure to the inner enclosure, which was being cleaned, was not closed.”
Her husband conveyed similar thoughts to local media, attributing her death to ‘human error’.
An investigation is currently underway.
The Moscow-installed Investigative Committee of Crimea and Sevastopol issued a statement regarding the incident, as reported by CBS News: “A criminal case has been opened over the death of an employee at the Taigan lion park as a result of a predator attack.”
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