Lion kills American tourist at South Africa animal park (video)

An American woman was killed Monday and another man injured when a lion jumped through the open window of their car as they drove through an animal park in South Africa.

“We had a gentleman and a lady driving with the windows wide open,” Scott Simpson, assistant operations manager of the Lion Park outside Johannesburg, tells the Guardian. “The lion came through the passenger side window and attacked her. The man sustained slight injuries trying to fight her off.”

The man was driving the vehicle, reports say.

According to the Associated Press, the attack occurred when a lioness approached the passenger side of the vehicle as the woman took photos and then lunged.

Park rules forbid driving through the lion enclosure with the windows down, reports the BBC.

“We make it so clear. We put signage up everywhere that people must keep their windows closed,” Simpson tells the Guardian. “We hand them a slip of paper when they enter the park; I really don’t understand why people think its OK to leave windows open.”

Workers with the park chased the lion away, but the woman died at the scene from her wounds.

The woman and the injured man have not been identified and reports have not indicated where the woman lived in the United States.

An investigation is under way and the lioness has been taken to a separate enclosure, but there are no plans to put her down.

According to the Guardian, this is the third attack at the park in the past four months. An Australian man was bitten by a lion in March after he left his window open, and just days later, a 13-year-old who cut through the park while riding his bike was attacked by a cheetah.

Source: Cleveland.com