Canadian Teen, Lauren Fagen, Tries To Kiss Lion And Suffers Injuries

A Canadian teen tried to a kiss a lion while she was volunteering at the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in South Africa and suffered a lot of injuries.

As Lauren Fagen tried to feed the lion through the bars, the lion dragged her into his cage by her legs. Luckily, another volunteer dragged her away and saved her from the lion.

“That’s when fear set in, because you couldn’t be logical anymore when your left knee is stuck and you can’t pull it out and it was bleeding,” she said. “I just said, ‘It’s stuck there, he’s going to bite the whole thing off.”

Natalie Bennett, a veterinary nurse from England, beat the lion with a broom. “Both her knees were injured and she had puncture wounds in the calf and huge gouges out of her thigh,” Bennett said.

“I should have died or lost a leg. It was a miracle that I survived,” Lauren Fagen said.

The 18-year-old will have some scarring on her legs, but there will not be any permanent damage.

According to Moholoholo founder Brian Jones, things could have been a lot worse.

“This is quite mild – it’s a miracle it wasn’t worse,” he said. “She came here telling people that she wanted to hug an animal.”

Fagen was released from the hospital on Monday and will recover fully by September.

The lion attack hasn’t stopped the teen from loving animals.

“I will continue to work with animals for the rest of my life, probably through volunteer work,” she said. “But nothing has changed.”

What do you think of the Canadian teen who tried to kiss the lion? Do you think she should have been smarter and stayed away from the lions?

[Image via Shuttershock]