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Lioness Shot And Killed After Escaping From Belgian Zoo

Lioness Shot And Killed After Escaping From Belgian Zoo

Zookeepers were forced to shoot her dead

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A lioness which escaped from a Belgian zoo has been shot dead.

The lioness managed to get out of her enclosure at around 9.45am local time at the Planckendael Zoo, where a group of school children were due to visit.

Fortunately, the kids were kept on their school bus by a teacher, who said it was 'not easy to keep them calm'. I can imagine, mate.

Twitter

Other visitors to the zoo were kept safe in a gift shop while zookeepers and animal handlers tried to deal with the situation.

According to Belgian media, zookeepers were left with no option but to shoot the lioness dead as she was 'too panicked to be stunned'.

On its Twitter account, the zoo said the animal was shot after two attempts at sedating her failed.

Twitter

Caitlin Cant told VTM news: "We arrived here and immediately had to go to the souvenir shop.

"Some classmates are still in their car in the parking lot.

"Classmates who were on their way were sent back home. Meanwhile, we have received water from the staff. In total there are about forty people waiting for news. "

Earlier this month it was reported that lions, tigers, a bear and jaguars had escaped from a German zoo during heavy flooding.

Local residents were told to stay indoors while police and animal handlers attempted to track down the animals. However, it was later revealed that no lions, tigers or jaguars had left their enclosures and the mass-panic was, mostly, over nothing. Despite the big cats simply being mislaid, a bear did manage to escape and was shot soon after.

WATCH: MAN JUMPS INTO LION ENCLOSURE


DW News reported Andreas Kuppert, the mayor of Arzfeld, as saying: "We're very happy that the scenario we had initially feared didn't turn out to be the case."

But some animal lovers used the incident as a chance to slate zoos, with one taking to Twitter to say: "An innocent animal shot because the zoo clearly couldn't keep the animals safely in captivity."

Others compared the situation to the death of Harambe, the 17-year-old Western lowland gorilla who was shot and killed at Cincinnati Zoo in May 2016, when a toddler got into his enclosure.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: World News, Animals