A farm worker in Glen, a small town outside Bloemfontein, has died after being mauled by a lioness while repairing a fence last weekend.
According to Free state police, Jere Mataka was attacked by one of the four lionesses when he unknowingly entered an enclosure containing the lionesses’ enclosure.
FATAL ERROR
“On June 23, 2024, at approximately 12:20 p.m., the victim and his handler had just finished installing a fence at one of the lion enclosures.
“It is alleged that the victim left for his room and went straight to the locked room. The supervisor shouted to let him know that he needed to get out quickly as there was a female lion in the enclosure, but it was too late.
‘One of the four lions attacked him and he lost his life’ Captain Lorraine Earle said in a statement.
Earle said the supervisor was able to retrieve Mataka, 43, but he later died after suffering multiple bite wounds to his neck and body.
The Free State lioness was later euthanized by the Bloemfontein SPCA.
DINOKENG LIONS DEUTHANIZED
In 2023, in the Dinokeng Game Reserve in Hammanskraal, a group of lions were euthanized after they had put John Matshe to death.
Matshe was an employee of the game reserve and was mauled on the evening of August 13. In a statement, the game reserve said the man was attacked and beaten to death by three lions as he tried to navigate the reserve on foot in the dark.
“The employee was only discovered on Monday, August 14, when the reserve’s fencing team discovered apparent human remains,” a wildlife reserve representative said.
SA People
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