Man survives after jumping into lions' den to commit suicide

- Locals reportedly shot the lions to save the man's life

- Zoo director expresses deep pain over loss of the animals

- Reports say there was a suicide note in the man's pocket

A 20-year-old Chilean identified as Franco Luis Ferrada Roman, has reportedly survived an attack by lions after jumping into their enclosure.

Mail Online reports that the man stripped naked and jumped into the lions' enclosure with the aim of committing suicide, but he survived the incident while the lions were killed.

It was gathered that the two African lions were put down as they severely mauled the man who had broken into their cage early on Saturday.

Mr Roman has since been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and was said to be recovering fine after initially being in a grave condition.

Zookeepers intervened in the attack when they saw the lions 'playing' with the man, and shot the two lions in order to save his life.

The zookeeper explained afterwards, that the park was crowded with visitors at the time of the incident.

Speaking also on the incident, Alejandra Montalva, director of the zoo, said: "We believe that this person entered as a visitor and paid for his ticket.

"Later he trespassed into an area where the public are not normally allowed and we understand that he forced the roof of the lion's enclosure.

"It was from there that he jumped, took off his clothes and started to attract the lions."

While expressing her sadness with the incident, Montalva noted that she was deeply affected by the death of the animals, adding: "the zoo has an established protocol because people's lives are very important to us" and that there were no fast-acting tranquilizers available to stop the lions from mauling the man.

Source: Legit.ng