But the child was not even slightly intimated by the beasts sitting just inches away behind the glass, and instead reached his hand out towards the lioness, as this video shows.
A ferocious lioness at a zoo tries to eat a small child on the other side of the glass in chilling footage.
But the child was not even slightly intimated by the beasts sitting just inches away behind the glass, and instead reached his hand out towards the lioness, as this video shows.
The footage, captured at a zoo in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, in China, shows the lioness sitting with her mouth wide open as soon as the little boy sits by her enclosure on 7th January.
It appears as though the predatory animal is attempting to measure up the child’s bite size.
However, the boy seems rather excited at being able to visit the lions and goes to take a good up-close look at them while looking back at the camera and smiling.
His mother – not named in local media – sits behind the camera and watches on as her boy fearlessly approaches the glass cage and puts his hand right in front of the lioness.
The large cat seems to be picking up on the child’s amiability and begins licking the glass all of a sudden as if she were trying to groom the boy.
She even tries to sniff the boy through the cage, seemingly trying to work out whether the child is food or play.
Earlier this week, a lioness was killed “almost instantly” by a lion at Longleat Safari Park on New Year’s Day, it has been confirmed.
Guests said they were diverted away from the enclosure in the early afternoon due to an unknown major incident at the safari park in Wiltshire.
She tries to sniff through the glass, to work out whether the lad is food or play
One person held up in the area wrote on social media that they could see a lioness laying still on the floor while injured.
Guests did not appear to be aware that the animal had been killed.
Keepers immediately rushed to the scene but, despite their efforts, the lioness died “almost instantly”, said Longleat Safari Park.
Such incidents are very rare but can “naturally occur”, it added. There was no risk posed to guests near the enclosure.
A spokesperson told Wiltshire Live: “This weekend [1st January 2023] saw one of the lionesses at Longleat sadly killed by another lion. This kind of incident is very rare but can naturally occur amongst apex predators.
“It happened incredibly quickly, with the lioness dying almost instantly.
“Our professional keepers were immediately on the scene, however the timescales involved meant there was no possibility of intervention. There was no risk to guests.”
The incident comes just weeks after two rare red panda cubs at the safari park died when temperatures dropped below freezing.
The tiny animals, born in the summer, were found in their nesting box and staff at the park said initial investigations indicated they had died from hypothermia and weaning problems.
