GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A lion has been killed after escaping its enclosure at an animal park and killing its handler in northern Guatemala, according to a local news site.
Local Noti Petén identified the dead man as Santos Esquivel Nájera and said he died after being mauled by the lion late Sunday.
Residents and police later hunted down and shot to death the 20-year-old lion.
The incident occurred at a tourist nature park that was authorized to hold animals in the town of El Chal, in the northern province of Peten.
The Guatemalan government’s National Council on Protected Areas had registered the lion as part of a private collection since 2006, and had inspected the lion’s enclosure as recently as 2019.
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