Attacking Lion, Atif: King Of The Beasts Attacks Photograher When He Hears Camara Shutter


An attacking lion was photographed by Atif Saeed, a nature photographer from Pakistan. He believes he would have surely been killed had he not managed to escape when he did after snapping an image of the kingly beast at Lahore Zoo Safari located in Lahore District, Punjab, Pakistan. Atif wanted an up-close picture of the giant animal, but was viewed as “prey” instead.

As you can see by the photo, the lion is in a completely different frame of mind. Needless to say, he’s in attack and kill mode. Humans aren’t used to being on the receiving end of a predator’s target, but the photo reveals in some form how terrifying it must be to see something like that coming at you.

Atif, 38, tells ABC News that the once-in-a-lifetime experience was “indescribable.” The wildlife photographer took the photo in January 2012. He was allowed to go inside the lion’s “natural” habitat to take a picture of him. He did this by driving his car into the safari and sitting near his car with the door open. Luckily, he was just a “jump away from the lion” when he felt threatened.

When the attacking lion image was taken, Atif said it was a rush.

“The feel of the aggressive, approaching lion from the camera is something that can’t be described. I was witnessing every small detail of movement that no photograph or movie can show.”

After a few minutes of taking pictures, the lion began to view him as “prey,” Atif says. The animal “offensively moved” toward Atif and that was warning enough for him to get out of there. He jumped into his car, shut the door, and escaped the incident without harm.

With the attacking lion experience behind him, Atif can laugh about it now.

“It was a pretty close encounter. I was laughing afterwards at the time, but I don’t think I’d ever be able to do something like that again.”

Daily Mail reports that Atif thought it was the shutter sound of his camera that set the lion off. For some reason, the sound of the camera clicking didn’t sit too well with the lion and he made his “offensive” move. Atif was sitting on the ground only 10-feet away from the majestic creature when he found himself viewed as the lion’s next kill.

Not too many people can say they’ve been that up-close to an attacking lion like Atif was. In his case, it was a thrilling experience that didn’t involve losing his life!

[Photo Credit: Atif Saeed via Daily Mail]

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