Chilean Man Attempts Suicide By Jumping Into Lion Enclosure
Read Time:1 Minute, 4 Second
(NEWSER) – Two lions were killed after they severely mauled a man who stripped naked and entered their enclosure in an apparent suicide attempt early Saturday in Chile, the AP reports.
The man—identified by the Guardian as Franco Luis Ferrada, 20—was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and was said to be in grave condition. Director Alejandra Montalba of Santiago’s Metropolitan Zoo told local media the park was crowded with visitors at the time of the incident.
Ferrada broke into the enclosure, took off his clothes, and jumped into the middle, horrifying other visitors who witnessed the attack. The lions initially ignored Ferrada, but attacked when he taunted them.
Zookeepers first hosed down the lions, then fired tranquilizer darts at them but hit Ferrada in the neck instead, per the Guardian; Montalba says there were no tranquilizers handy.
Either way, an employee ended the attack by opening fire and killing the two animals before the horrified crowd. “The zoo has an established protocol because people’s lives are very important to us,” says Montalba.
Ferrada suffered injuries to his head and pelvis, and an apparent suicide note was found in the man’s clothing, says a parks official. Witness reported he also made religious proclamations. Chilean officials describe the man as “frustrated,” CNN reports.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0
This was an extremely cruel of this man to involve the lions in his insane desire to kill himself. I agree with Marsha, leave the lions out of it. The only tragedy is that this person was not able to get help before he did this and was able to get to the lions. The zoo keeper is wrong, human life is not more important than the animals. There are 7 billion of us and only a few thousand lions left.
Did Franco Luis Ferrada choose getting mauled by lions at the zoo, as means to commit suicide, because he thought that if lions did the killing, he would go to heaven? Are historical records of Christians being thrown to the lions in ancient Rome, before Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire in the A.D. 300’s, what inspired Ferrada to choose getting mauled by lions, as a way to commit suicide?
I am not at all a religious person. But, if I was going to commit suicide, I would take some kind of poison that has no antidote, so at least I would have time to say some prayers before my death.
This leads to a question I have to ask Christians. Especially, since this website once posted that according to Christians, if Hitler prayed for salvation before his death, he would be in heaven, but his six million Jewish victims would be in hell. So the question I have is this, if you take any kind of poison, and then you pray for salvation before the poison takes effect and kills you, will you still go to heaven?
You may be talking about some other website or a troll. There are not many on the site that believe in heaven or hell.
Not this website Ross. No Jeeper Freepers here.
Please explain to me who Jeeper Freepers are. I would greatly appreciate your reply to tell me who are Jeeper Freepers are because I never heard such a term before. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Uh ok. A jeeper freeper is a person who loves the Jeeper. Thus “Jeeper Freeper.” Praise the Jeeper.
I wish I could recall that post Ross, but it sounds vaguely familiar, especially the “according to Christians” part. Going to have to try and find it now.
FOUND IT: https://madmikesamerica.com/2013/12/crazy-christians-if-only-adolf-hitler-had-prayed-for-salvation/
Good catch Ross. Thanks man.
It definitely encourages those who want to commit suicide to LEAVE OTHER ANIMALS out of it! This was so backwards of him – he wasn’t killed, and two lions were! What a tragedy 🙁
(This is not to say that a man not being killed is a tragedy. Is desiring to commit suicide is a totally different issue)
The zoo seems at fault for not having a non-lethal means at hand to stop the attack. Perhaps also for having an enclosure some suicidal idiot can get into. But you can’t blame a predator for being a predator or for responding to aggression in the way a predator does.
It’s sad that the most dangerous animals in the zoo these days are the humans, but keeping loonies and idiots and others away from dangerous things is a bigger problem than anyone knows what to do about.