WHEN LIONS PREY ON HANDLERS

Zoo keepers must be extremely careful

In what is now becoming a recurring tragedy in Nigeria, a 35-year-old zoo worker, Babaji Daule, was last week killed by a lion at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, Ogun State. Earlier in the year, a zookeeper was similarly mauled to death by a lion at the zoological garden of the Obafemi University [OAU], Ile Ife campus. In the latest incident, the lion handler neglected to secure the locks and barricade the lion’s enclosure before approaching the cage to feed the animal. According to the Ogun State police command spokesman, Omolola Odutola, “This negligence allowed the lion to escape and attack the handler, resulting in fatal injuries to the handler’s neck and eventual death.”

 The OOPL park’s management further clarified that the incident occurred when some guests arrived after the park’s closing time. “The zookeeper, feeling comfortable with the animal, left the safety gate open and proceeded to feed the lion. He was attacked and killed on the spot,” the statement read. To prevent further mutilation of the body, the animal was put down immediately.

It is important to state that this activity fell completely outside the standard feeding routine of the park.

The rate zookeepers have been killed by wild animals in Nigeria is worrying. It suggests a lack of proper education for those put in charge of these wild animals.

We must recall that the victim of the Ife tragedy, Olabode Olawuyi, a Veterinary technologist who had overseen the zoological garden

for over a decade, was also feeding the lions when one of them, a nine-year-old male, jumped at him and inflicted severe injuries. Despite the public outcry that followed, no lessons seem to have been learnt. There are also no indications about whether measures have been put in place to avoid future occurrences. Yet, this is important, especially for all other facilities, private or public, academic or commercial, that hold wild animals anywhere in the country.

A few years ago, a similar incident happened at the small holding den at Kaduna’s Gamji Park. A zookeeper was mauled and, although he was rushed to hospital, he did not make it. Three decades earlier, there was an incident at the Jos Zoo when lions pounced on their keeper and mauled him to death. In that incident, the reason was clear: the zoo was starved of funds and the lions had not been fed for 10 days. The zookeeper, who had been feeding them for many years, usually drove the lions to a corner, cleaned the den, supplied their food and then allowed them back in. When he did not supply food after cleaning the dens for almost two weeks, the lions pounced on him.

Even though we often see online videos of huge lions that have been tamed in South African and Botswanan parks, where humans play and roll around with them, it is a very dangerous practice that should never be encouraged here. Besides, it must be assumed that the animals are very well taken care of in those parks. However strong the bond they appear to have built with their human caretakers, the wild and killer instinct in lions can easily be brought out due to stress, sickness, fear and, most especially, hunger.

While we commiserate with the family of Babaji Daule and the management and staff of OOPL on this tragedy, we urge relevant authorities to put necessary measures in place so that zookeepers and others who rear these pets will learn valuable lessons on how to handle wild animals without exposing themselves to danger.