A video showing a man giving bath to a lion in Yemen went viral online.
It is well known that most lions dislike water and bathing.
Yemeni man giving bath to a lion in cage
The video battling to control a full-grown lion while giving him a shower in a cage is being widely shared on the internet.
At some point when the lion appeared irritated, the man pushed the beast’s head down and shouted “sit down,” forcing it to obey.
Yemen is known for wild animals’ trafficking and smuggling across the border to be sold in the rich neighboring counties.
This is an opportunity for people in the country’s poorest regions to earn money, as price for lion cubs can sometimes reach $13,000.
“A loose network has sprung up, trading not just lions but also cheetahs, leopards, gazelles, hyenas and monkeys,” according to the report.
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Visitors at the Dallas Zoo on Sunday were shocked as a male lion attacked and killed a lioness in front of them.
The male seized five-year-old Johari by the neck – an autopsy found she died from neck wounds and haemorrhaging.
Zoo officials said the lions had lived together peacefully for years.
They said they had no idea why the male had turned on Johari, but that they have no plans to euthanize him.
Video taken by a zoo visitor showed the apparently calm male lion with its jaws clamped around the female’s neck.
“Everyone thought they were playing at first but then they could see that she was struggling,” witness Jim Harvey told local news station WFAA.
Lioness Johari, known as Jo-Jo, was a Dallas Zoo staff favorite
Security personnel closed the exhibit to the public and the male was removed.
The remaining four lions appeared unaffected by the incident, said officials.
“Johari was a remarkable animal, as are all of our lions” said Lynn Kramer, vice-president of animal operations and welfare at the zoo, in a statement.
“This is a very rare and unfortunate occurrence. In my 35 years as a veterinarian in zoos, I’ve never seen this happen.”
The statement said Johari, known as Jo-Jo, was a staff favorite who was “sweet and loving with her sisters, and often could be found grooming them”.
Lynn Kramer told WFAA that male lions do sometimes kill other males in the wild, and sometimes cubs, but that attacking a female was extremely rare.
The chances of such an attack happening again were “very remote”, said Lynn Kramer.
However, the zoo has said it will keep its two males lion apart from the surviving two female while they try to establish what happened, and would “absolutely not” euthanize the killer.
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