A 22-year-old woman was mauled to death by a lioness at a camp inside a South African game reserve run by the country’s self-described “lion whisperer,” according to a report.
The unidentified woman, who was believed to be South African, was pronounced dead Tuesday after paramedics desperately tried to save her life at Kevin Richardson’s 3,200-acre property in the Dinokeng Big 5 Game Reserve, near Johannesburg.
“I am devastated and my heart goes out to this young woman’s family,” Richardson said in a Facebook post explaining the tragedy.
“Myself and an experienced colleague took three lions walking in the Reserve, as we do on a weekly basis, as part of their exercise and stimulation regiment (sic),” he wrote.
“We assessed the landscape for other big 5 animals and as per procedure sent out a notification that we were walking in the reserve. One of the lionesses charged off after an Impala and must have run 2,0 to 2,5km where she encountered the 22-year-old.”
The victim had been accompanying a friend to conduct an interview for an assignment with the manager of the camp at the refuge, according to the Facebook message.
Before leaving the reserve, the two visitors were snapping pictures outside the camp when the attack occurred, he explained.
“The injuries were very severe, it was a deadly attack,” paramedics spokesman Nick Dollman said, according to the Standard. “The friend with the victim watched it happen, but was not hurt, but must have been in a terrible state emotionally.”
Dinokeng management said the woman was killed “within a conservation section that is not accessible to the general public” but is within the boundaries of the reserve.
“The lion that was involved with this fatality was not one of the wild free-roaming lions of the Dinokeng Game Reserve,” the management said.
The death occurred just weeks after supermodel Cara Delevingne posed with one of Richardson’s big cats at his self described “intimate glam camp,” within the wildlife sanctuary, the Standard reported.
Richardson, who gained worldwide acclaim thanks to his relationship with the big cats, raised Vayetse, the 500-pound, 10-year-old lion pictured with Delevingne.
The model, who sports a lion tattoo on a finger, thanked Richardson for “the most incredible experience with my favourite animals in the world” after the December shoot.
“I am so humbled to have had the experience to work with such an inspiring animal up close. It really gave me a first-hand experience (literally) how awful it is to be confined to a cage,” she said.
Many of Richardson’s lions were rescued from so-called canned-hunting facilities — where animals are kept in confined areas.
“I have been accepted as part of the pride,” Richardson has told the AP. “But I have to be very careful. They are large animals and are very good at telling you how they feel.”
Visitors to Richardson’s camp can pay to volunteer, take drives in safari vehicles or sleep in tents.
His website promises visitors that “you will enjoy the spectacular African bush and come face-to-face with majestic lions and hear their magnificent roars at night.”
With Post Wires