RIYADH - A young child was mauled by a lion in Saudi Arabia. It has now emerged that the lion was attracted by the butterfly hair clip worn by the girl.
A video of the incident has now gone viral on social media, causing much outrage. In the video, children can be seen playing with a lion inside a fenced-in platform. He broke free and started attacking the children.
The lion cub can be seen cornering a child before the trainer intervened and was able to rescue her from the lion's clutches.
Twitter feeds have been buzzing with outrage over the lack of concern regarding the children's safety by the parents and the organisers of the event, Alwast link> reported.
One of the witnesses to the event said that an organiser started asking children to enter the cage and interact with the lion cub. Some parents did send their children into the cage.
The cornered girl sustained minor scratches but she was badly shaken by the incident.
The six-year-old cub had been de-clawed before the show so he wouldn't hurt the children. He belongs to a well-known zoo-keeper, who said that the cub was taken by the hair tie in the shape of a butterfly on the child's head. link