When Cats Attack

Angry lions turn on tamer during circus act

A tourist's video has caught the moment two lions turned on their trainer in front of hundreds of spectators in a savage attack at an Ukrainian circus. The video, made by an American family visiting the town of Lviv in western Ukraine, shows one angered lion brushing past attempts by Oleksie Pinko, the trainer, to keep it at bay with a metal rod to bite him in the leg.

A second lion then joined in on the mauling, seizing the Mr Pinko's left arm in its jaws. As children in the audience, some of whom were just 10 feet away from the lions, screamed in terror, circus workers used high-pressure hoses and blows from metal bars in a desperate attempt to save Mr Pinko.

"I was just grabbing my daughter and trying to run because I thought they were going to get out," Masha Shepherd, the wife of Douglas Shepherd, the video maker, said. After a brief struggle the lions were driven off but they then attacked again knocking the trainer to the floor.

He eventually managed to escape, and was seen limping from the ring with blood dripping from his left arm. Mr Pinko later underwent emergency surgery in hospital, where his condition was described as "stable".

 

Tiger attack in India

At least six people have been injured by a tiger in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state after it strayed into a village in the Mathura district.

The locals living in the outskirts of Fatiha village, armed with batons, rushed to the spot to drive the beast away, but the tiger was elusive and remained hidden in the fields. The locals had been attacked when they went into the fields early in the morning.

"It injured four people at once. Then at 7 O'clock, it injured a child. After that it injured the child's father or his relative, who had gone to see the child. It is a fully grown tiger. Sometime back, it ran from one field to another," said Chetan Singh, a villager.

Forest officials rushed to the spot to try to capture the big cat. Many wild animals such as tigers, leopards and elephants have strayed in villages due to loss of habitat.