The news aggregate page I was looking at lists each headline under a broader category. This one was listed under Entertainment.
The man’s relatives have been informed of his death and his body has been taken to the SVRR Government General Hospital for a “post-mortem examination,” per the release.
And that’s all the article has to say, when I care a lot more about what happened to the fucking lion. Although of course I know.
Okay, the man may have had mental health issues (although the article just says he was drunk), but if people are determined to kill themselves I really wish they would find less selfish ways to do it.
Per the article he just wanted a selfie with the lion. In his defense, I’m not sure how he could have predicted such a reaction.
Okay, seriously, lions gonna lion. I hope the lion suffers zero repercussions.
Unfortunately you do have to destroy them if they have taken a human. Not because of any weird notion that they get a taste for human flesh, but animals generally avoid things they don’t fully understand when possible. When they learn how easy humans are to kill, they become much more dangerous. Even in a zoo where they are well fed, it would not be fair on the keepers.
Well, I hope India has different standards. I get your explanation, but I don’t think animals should be penalized for behaving exactly the way they’re expected to, especially animals imprisoned in zoos.
I guess a good alternative plan would be to just continue to feed it humans. It’s not like we’re short of people who are a waste of oxygen. And it could certainly help the US trade deficit.
I can think of a few candidates.
I spend a lot of time in Kruger in South Africa. The lions ignore cars, they don’t understand that cars contain humans, but they usually run away when they see a standing human. Their encounters with humans are not usually positive experiences, if it’s not poachers murdering their relatives, it’s rangers doing weird things they don’t understand where they wake up feeling groggy in a different time or place. So although you’re not supposed to get out of your car at all, if people are forced to, it’s not lions that are the first concern.
However, one side of the Park is the Mozambique border, and desperate economic migrants often try to enter South Africa through the Park on foot. The rangers have found old human remains in remote areas, taken by lions but with the lions long gone - and they aren’t going to euthanize dozens of lions if they can’t be sure what happened.
So it’s always good to be aware that almost all the lions are scared of people, but you can never take it for granted when that cold gaze locks on.
It’s always been my policy to assume any large predator wants to kill me.
They’re pretty much always drunk when these things happen. I remember waaaay back in the day, I’m pretty sure it was the 90s, but SNL had a sketch of a bunch of drunken idiots jumping into the same bear enclosure at a zoo one after another (each one dying a screaming death off-camera).
“Hey Murray, how do you like your human?”
“I dunno, I always eat them beer-battered.”
(Note that was my own bad joke, it had nothing to do with the SNL sketch.)
I have been in a Landrover (closed canopy) in Hwange, Zimbabwe and had a bunch of lionesses, I think 3 or 4, leapt onto the roof, presumably to observe for prey.
It is a not an area where hunting is allowed so presumably they have little fear. The driver and I joked about getting lion shit on the roof.
After about 10 miniutes they moved off.
It’s weird, but they just don’t seem to understand that a person in a vehicle is something other than part of the vehicle, even when it’s an open safari vehicle. They get it only if someone stands up and they can see the full outline of a person. I’ve seen a dramatic reaction from lions when army guys in an open-sided truck stand up from a bench and are suddenly fully visible down to their ankles.
The primates definitely understand that people inside cars are people. Hyenas and wild dogs I’m uncertain.
A murder kitty in Kruger.
I have unfortunately never seen a Painted Dog (as they are more properly named) but certainly hyena. In the campsite. Hyena are primarily scavengers, so encountering one between the tent and the toilet is scary but likely to end up OK.
The dogs are pack animals that tend to shy away from human disturbance.
Not at all sure of their respective ability to recognise humans.
Really cool. Did you take the picture?
Yes, he’s a juvenile, still with his mother, and obviously unusually curious. It’s somewhat common for cheetah to jump on vehicles to get a good view, but not leopards, they are ambush hunters. The first time I saw him was in a quiet spot where he walked out and just sat down right next to my car looking straight at me, I could literally have reached out and patted him on the head. He took a little nap, hung out right next to my car checking me out for about 20 minutes.
This was the second encounter, and if he had jumped on my car it would have been amusing but obviously I wouldn’t have got the photo. I hope he’s doing okay, it’s not really good that he’s so curious about cars and what’s inside them (sometimes his identical twin), but it’s probably just a growing up phase. I’ve never seen an adult leopard do anything other than ignore a car or maybe give a brief dirty look if you are doing something annoying.
Nitpick: he’s not officially the candidate until the convention says he i- oh, you meant…never mind.
I’d have been more worried about people shit on the seats.
Stunning! We have murder lizards here, but all you have to do is stay away from the water.
No, actually you do not have to do that.