The Christian who threw himself to the lions – and in some way survived: Moment man who believed he was Biblical character Daniel is mauled whereas making an attempt to ‘convert’ massive cats of their zoo enclosure
When Chen Chung-ho strolled up to two African lions at Taipei Zoo, nearly 21 years ago, visitors were left confused and stunned.
Some are said to have believed it was all part of a show, while others thought he was a trained worker who had access to the beasts’ enclosure.
But soon after Chen stood in front of the lions, his bizarre behaviour made it increasingly clear that an impending danger loomed.
Armed with a Bible, he had one motive – to preach the gospel and ‘convert’ the lions on November 3, 2004.
Witnesses said he shouted ‘Jesus will save you’ as he faced the animals. The lions who were lounging under a tree stood up and approached the man.
Just like the people at the zoo, they initially seemed confused about what he was doing. He even taunted them by saying: ‘Come bite me!’
He then took off his jacket and waved it around. With a roar, one of the enraged animals, a male with a huge mane, lunged at him and knocked it out of his hand.
Seconds later, it attacked and bit his right arm.
The man, seemingly now aware of the gravity of the situation, attempted to back away onto a nearby rock with his arms raised in what appeared to be the surrender position.
But the furious lion charged at him again and chomped on his right arm. The man could only exclaim in pain as he was trapped with nowhere to go.
A grab from a news report shows Chen Chung-ho being being attacked by the male lion as the female looked on. He had entered the animals’ enclosure to preach the gospel to them
Although the male lion bared its teeth at Chen, it was not enough to send him running out of the enclosure
Now seated on the rocks, Chen came face to face with the 300lb beast, which attacked him once again, its growls sounding angrier with each attack.
After mauling him a few more times, Chen was left holding his leg in agony. But it is believed that he was so high on drugs that he made no attempts to escape.
Chaos erupted at the zoo as people began screaming, and zoo staff rushed to the scene to save his life.
Officials made the call to tranquilise the animals, but they were also concerned that Chen would attempt to charge at the animals. Although they considered tranquilising him too, they soon realised they did not have the appropriate dosage for humans.
Finally, they fired their dart guns at the male lion. When other darts missed their targets, it was decided that a fire hose had to be used to drive the animals away.
Shortly afterwards, another dart hit the male lion, sending it running to its cage.
But incensed, the female charged at Chen, giving officials only a few seconds to act to save his life.
They finally deterred it with the hose and shot it with the dart. Both animals were unharmed.
After Chen retreated on a nearby rock, the lion launched another attack and bit him on his right arm
According to local reports, the animals had been fed earlier in the day. If not, Chen could have sustained even worse injuries or been killed.
Incredible footage captured the heart-stopping scenes on TV at the time of the incident in November 2004.
Chen was pulled to safety and taken to the hospital. His injuries were serious but not life-threatening. Doctors said he had wounds to his arm and leg, but would survive.
One dismayed veterinarian, Chih-Hua Chang, who was present at the time, said: ‘I was a bit shocked. We were all appalled as to why someone would jump in there. Everyone was nervous because anything could happen at any time.
Police later identified him as a devout Christian, and reports said he may have been suffering from psychological problems.
It was widely believed that he was re-enacting the biblical story of Daniel in the lions’ den.
That story, told in the Book of Daniel, describes how the prophet Daniel was thrown into a pit of lions.
As a captive in Babylon, he refused to stop praying to his God despite an order from King Darius that all citizens must worship only the king. When Daniel was found praying, he was sentenced to death and thrown into a den of lions.
The next morning, Darius found him alive and ordered his release, declaring that Daniel’s God was real. According to the Bible, God had sent an angel to shut the lions’ mouths.
Chen’s act drew worldwide attention because it resembled that story. However, many were quick to note that his survival may not have been a miracle but sheer luck that the attack was not fierce enough to kill him.
Chen was said to have been inspired by the Biblical book of Daniel and how he was thrown into a lion’s den yet survived
It was later revealed by the police that Chen was an alcoholic and also addicted to amphetamines. He is also said to have been suffering from delusions.
Chen himself was later interviewed by news outlets, where he said: ‘I was on drugs and drinking excessively every day.
‘And if you ask me what I was thinking, I would say I was thinking things that weren’t realistic. I didn’t know what I was thinking.’
Remarkably, charges were not pressed against him as authorities recognised that he needed help.
He was sent to a rehabilitation centre where he managed to stay off the drugs and get clean.
As bizarre as Chen’s story is, he is far from the only one who has entered the enclosure of some of the fearsome animals.
In 2016, a man entered the pit of a lion at a zoo and stripped. He then approached the animals and began to chant what was described as ‘very apocalyptic, very religious’ proverbs.
The man was mauled, leading zoo officials to decide to shoot and kill the two lions, a male and a female.
The zoo justified the ‘incomprehensible’ decision, saying it was ‘due to the circumstances and to firstly protect the life of this person’. It was later determined that the man wanted to kill himself and had left a suicide note in his clothes.
Like Chen, he was also described as ‘very religious.’
Last year, one man was not so lucky when he ventured into a den in India. Prahalad Gurjar was viciously attacked after jumping into the enclosure.
According to a news release: ‘Though the animal keeper and other security staff nearby tried to save the person, the animal dragged the person inside the enclosure.’
Unlike Chen, within ten minutes, Gurjar was dead.
While Daniel’s Biblical story ended with divine intervention, Chen’s ended with sedation and stitches.
And though he later insisted he had found peace, after 21 years, many still remember him not as a prophet, but as the man who tried to preach the gospel to lions and somehow lived to tell the tale.
