The owner of a game lodge in the Free State where two security guards were killed by lions has been charged with culpable homicide, police said on Thursday.
Captain Rosa Benade said the man was taken in by local police on Thursday.
”His fingerprints were taken and a charge laid,” said Benade.
The security guards, Jacob Phoo (36) and Ben Motlalentoa Tat (54), were killed by a lion and two lionesses that had got out of their enclosure at the Farm Game Lodge near Hennenman last Wednesday.
Police said the lions had dug a hole under the fence, through which the animals managed to escape.
Benade said a search for the lions commenced after the bodies were found. They were apparently shot by the Italian owner of the lodge.
He will appear in the Hennenman Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, said Benade. — Sapa