Lion Mauls Neo-Nazi Demonstrator In Barcelona Zoo

On Sunday, three lions mauled a neo-Nazi demonstrator in Barcelona Zoo before rescue workers could move the man to safety. An official statement claims that the man is in serious condition, but his life is not at risk. Why the man jumped into the lion pit to begin with is still unclear.

Spectators looked on in horror as a man, dressed in a military uniform, proceeded to climb into the lion den and stood in front of an angry lioness. El Pais identified him as Justo Jose MP. If the stunt was meant to provoke a fight, the man succeeded. As the raw video below shows, the lion quickly bites the man’s arm and proceeds to throw him down into a tunnel in the enclosure. About 30 minutes later, zoo keepers managed a rescue.

According to CBS News, safety workers turned the hoses on the lions to force them away from Mr. Jose. The rescue team then took the man to the Hospital de la Vall D’Hebron; he suffered multiple scratches and bite marks from his half hour encounter in the lion den.

As the Daily Mail reports, the man, Justo Jose, is a neo-Nazi demonstrator who was arrested just last month for putting swastikas on the famous Casa Mila building to protest abortion. The local media also reports that he burned a flag at a monument to Rafael Casanova in September. It still isn’t clear if the zoo incident was also a demonstration, one that went terribly wrong, but officials do report that whatever the purpose was, he must have entered the lion enclosure intentionally.

This zoo attack isn’t the first incident of people underestimating the danger of lions. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, a woman in Michigan put her finger into a lion cage. The now nine-digit woman was last reportedly looking to sue the zoo, saying that she thought it was alright to try to pet the lions.

“I put my hand down there to pet it and it ripped my finger. I was in total shock. I really didn’t believe that was part of my finger laying on the ground.”

It’s not clear if the lawsuit is still underway or the incident was settled out of court. As for the Barcelona incident, the man seemed to go to much greater lengths to be mauled by the lions, but he has hopefully learned how dangerous the animals can be.

Investigators are looking into exactly how the man got into the lion’s den.

[Image Credit: Cody Pope/Wikimedia Commons]