Man gets tragically devoured in an attempt to pet lion to impress his girlfriend

A zookeeper in Uzbekistan tragically lost his life after attempting to film himself petting three African lions inside their enclosure. The incident occurred on 17 December at a private zoo in Parkent, where 44-year-old F. Iriskulov was working the night shift.

Reportedly trying to impress his fiancée, Iriskulov unlocked the lions’ cage and entered their enclosure with his phone recording. The short clip recovered from his device shows him addressing the lions by name and walking casually toward them as they lounged on wooden pallets. Moments later, the video captures the lions becoming alert and approaching him, only to end abruptly with the zookeeper’s terrified screams as one of the felines attacked.

Four hours later, Iriskulov’s partially devoured remains were discovered. In response to the tragic event, zoo authorities shot one of the lions and tranquilised the other two after they escaped through the unlocked enclosure.

Despite his experience as a lion handler, local media suggested that Iriskulov’s decision to enter the cage stemmed from his desire to impress his girlfriend.

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Interestingly, the regional police offered a conflicting account of the incident. Their official statement claimed that the lions had escaped their enclosure and attacked the zookeeper in the courtyard. However, a widely circulated video on social media contradicts this narrative, clearly showing Iriskulov willingly entering the enclosure and urging the lions to “be quiet” before the attack.

“Today, 17 December, three lions kept in a single cage at the Lion Park private zoo in Parkent district escaped into the zoo’s courtyard,” the police statement read. “The lions entered the yard, attacking and injuring a 44-year-old keeper born in 1980. Unfortunately, the keeper later died from his injuries.”

This tragic incident highlights the dangers of underestimating the instincts of wild animals, even for those familiar with handling them.

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