A man who was devoured by a pack of lions at a South African nature reserve is thought to have been a poacher attempting to hunt the animals.
“His screams for help raised the alarm but the lions quickly killed the man and devoured most of his body before being chased off,” says the London Evening Standard.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Police initially believed that the body belonged to a tractor driver who worked on the reserve, but further investigation revealed that no staff members were missing.
“The person who was thought to be an employee who got stuck whilst driving a tractor is in fact alive,” Lieutenant-Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe told Sowetan Live.
The discovery of a loaded hunting rifle near the mangled remains has led investigators to suspect the dead man may have been a poacher attempting to kill one of the valuable animals.
“It seems the victim was poaching in the game park when he was attacked and killed by lions. They ate his body, nearly all of it, and just left his head and some remains,” Ngoepe said.
Police are now attempting to identify the deceased, a task made easier “by the fact that his head is amongst the remains that were found at the scene,” Ngoepe added.
Last year, several lions “were found poisoned near a farm in the same province, with their heads and paws sawn off”, IOL reports.
Lion teeth and bones can fetch thousands of pounds in East Asia, where they are a component in traditional medicines, often as a substitute for increasingly rare tiger bones.
-
What are the best investments for beginners?The Explainer Stocks and ETFs and bonds, oh my
-
What to know before filing your own taxes for the first timethe explainer Tackle this financial milestone with confidence
-
The biggest box office flops of the 21st centuryin depth Unnecessary remakes and turgid, expensive CGI-fests highlight this list of these most notorious box-office losers
-
Epstein files topple law CEO, roil UK governmentSpeed Read Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, is caught up in the scandal
-
Iran and US prepare to meet after skirmishesSpeed Read The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
