The young male lion was found distressed and in agony by holidaymakers Meliska Viljoen and Meike Pettit (Picture: Mercury)
A dying lion with a snare around its neck was found ‘begging for help’ on a road in South Africa.
Two tourists, Meliska Vijoen and Meike Pettit, came across the young
male staggering towards them while on a safari tour in Kruger National
Park.
Battling the clock
Injured lions can die from infection or be targetted by hyenas so it was key that the creature was found as soon as possible.
They immediately alert park officials and posted pictures of the injured animal on Facebook.
‘[Our safari group] found the lion in the road clearly asking for
help,’ Meliska Vijoen wrote on the post, adding that help was slow to
arrive.
Hundreds of social media users commented on the post, rallying to save the beast.
Park rangers meanwhile closed off the road and dispatched vets to
track down and rescue the lion. It was a race against the clock.
Park officials found the lion a few hours later, sedated him and worked on removing the snare.
There was a moment vets believed they might have to put the animal
down, after discovering the snare had pierced his eyeball, but luckily
they were eventually able to patch him up.
‘All went well. The lion is now awake and will be monitored,’ a
spokesman wrote on the Wild Heart Wildlife Foundation’s Facebook page
afterwards.
Vets worked around the clock to save him (Picture: Mercury)
The young male lion has now been returned to the wild, with Wild
Heart Foundation posting a photo of ‘Percy’ finding his feet back in the
wild.
Park rangers believe the snare had been placed in the park to trap smaller animals for food.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar