Teen mauled to loss of life by lioness at zoo after climbing into enclosure

A troubled teen who dreamt of becoming a lion tamer was mauled to death in front of horrified zoo-goers after climbing a 20-foot fence to get into the big cats’ enclosure

A teenager has been mauled to death at a zoo in front of horrified families – after climbing into a lion’s enclosure. Tragic Gerson Machado, 19, had previously tried to reach Africa as a plane stowaway to chase his dream of training big cats.

He is seen in horror video footage climbing down a tree to reach the lioness after scaling a 20-ft wall at a zoo in the port city of Joao Pessoa in north-east Brazil. Social media clips captured the moment the lioness set upon him as he neared the ground.

The lioness is said by zoo vets to have been left “stressed” and “in shock” after the incident on Sunday, November 30.

After his death, it has emerged Gerson was well-known to police who stopped him when he was younger after he breached airport security in his bid to become a lion tamer.

The teenager, who had spent years in care and had mental health problems, was said to have grown up in extreme poverty without a proper family support structure and was described as having “mental health problems like his mum”, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Child protection worker Veronica Oliveira, who worked with Gerson for eight years, said his issues meant he was the only one of his siblings not to be taken in by adoptive families.

She told local media in Brazil: “Gerson was a child who suffered violations of his rights. He was the son of a mother with schizophrenia, with grandparents who also had mental health issues. He lived in extreme poverty.”

Revealing his dreams of going to Africa to tame lions, she recalled in an agonising social media post: “You told me you were going to take a plane to go on safari to Africa to look after lions.

“I thanked God when I was warned by the airport that you had cut the fence and got inside the landing gear compartment of a Gol Airlines plane. I thanked God because they saw on the cameras that there was a teenager there before a tragedy happened.

“Gerson’s story is that of a boy who just wanted to get to know Africa to tame lions. He discovered too late that a lion isn’t a domestic cat and that we can’t tame them without the right knowledge. Sadly he wasn’t sensible enough for that.”

Police who had arrested Gerson several times for minor offences including criminal damage confirmed his Africa dream and said he had told them he would make the journey “on foot” after his airport security breach.

City hall officials confirmed after the tragedy at the Arruda Camera Park, also known as Bica, that it would be closed until the end of an ongoing investigation.

They said in a statement: “The man killed scaled a 20ft wall and managed to get into the animal enclosure using one of the trees. According to police it was a possible act of suicide.

“Although security staff tried to stop him, he acted very quickly and died as a result of the injuries the lioness inflicted on him. The park was immediately closed. We would like to express our solidarity with the family of the victim of this regrettable incident.”

The 26.8-hectare park where the tragedy occurred, opened in 1921, is home to over 580 animal species including elephants, monkeys and birds as well as a wide variety of plants.

Zoo vet Thiago Nery said the lioness had been contained without the use of tranquilliser darts of weapons. He said: “She obeyed and returned to her pen but it took some time because she was stressed and in shock.”

Brazilian politician Matheus Laiola, who previously served as chief of police of the environmental protection department of Curitiba, said in an online post which raised eyebrows because of some of its content: “A lioness did exactly what a lioness does. Instinct, defence, natural behaviour of a wild animal.

“Tragedy and error begin when humans ignore basic safety limits, risk their own lives and also endanger the life of the animal. In Joao Pessoa, a man died yesterday after invading a lioness’s enclosure at Arruda Camara Park.

“According to the city council, he climbed a wall over six metres high, passed through the protective bars, used a tree for support and entered the cage. We stand in solidarity with the victim’s family.

“Respecting wildlife is not a choice. It is a rule. When this boundary is ignored, it is always the animal that suffers, and this cannot continue to happen. Who do you think was the ‘animal’ in this situation?”

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