An Australian man climbed into a lion enclosure at the Melbourne Zoo and attempted to pat the big cats before being captured and taken to a hospital mental ward, police said on Tuesday.
A police spokesperson said the man scaled a wire fence around the enclosure at feeding time.
Witnesses told Channel Ten the man pulled a Bible from his backpack, held it above his head and asked onlookers if they wanted him to pat the four lions in the pen.
”The staff were going crazy obviously,” one witness told the television station.
”The lions were growling, they thought he was attacking the food or whatever and they were very defensive and ran away.”
The police spokesperson said zoo staff apprehended the man, who was not injured by his foray into the lions’ den and police then took him to hospital for a mental assessment.
She said police had not decided whether to lay charges over the incident. – Sapa-AFP