Pride of lionesses attack male in front of shocked tourists

A group of tourists were left gobsmacked when a pride of lionesses attacked a male lion.

Expecting a nice day out ooing and ahing at the wildlife at West Midlands Safari Park in Worcestershire, UK, a group of tourists got to see a scene which was a little less Hakuna Matata in tone and more like when Scar kills... Well, I'll stop there just incase you have the audacity to have never bothered to watch The Lion King. Prepare to feel like you're in a cut-throat wildlife documentary:

Basically, one of the tourists managed to capture the moment several lionesses decided enough was enough and they didn't like the look of a male lion within their group.

The video - captured by amateur photographer Mya Beverstock in 2018 - shows a group of tourists' view from on top of a vehicle as they're driving around the park.

All was well in the tour until around 11.45am when Mya noticed a group of female lions surrounding a male lion.

Mya said at the time: "I decided to go to the safari park with my mum and dad to take some pictures of the lions. We had been sat there for a few minutes when we noticed these two male lions sitting on top a rock growling at something down below.

"We drove around a little bit and I noticed these female lionesses surrounding a male. All of a sudden they just pounced."

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The shocking moment sees the powerful pack of up to nine females leap onto the male lion - the footage even capturing the group sinking their teeth into the male lion's body.

Mya added: "They were biting at his back legs and his neck and pinning him to the ground, it looked really vicious and you can see in his eyes he thought he was going to die."

Surprised by the sudden attack, Mya says keepers had to think quickly to intervene, grabbing fire extinguishers to help break it up.

"Within a flash, safari jeeps were there surrounding the lionesses. There were three vehicles, one was honking its horn while another sprayed an extinguisher," Mya recalled.

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The visitor notes there could be 'any number of reasons' why the female lions decided to attack the male.

"It could be that they thought he was too old to be their leader or it could have been over food," Mya continues. "He could have tried it on with one of the females, who knows, but they looked angry and pounced as if they are going in for the kill."

Either way, the male ended up with 'bite marks and cuts on his back legs' and was 'pretty messed up'.

Mya explained: "You could see car windows going up and almost hear doors locking as it happened, it was just really intense to watch and listen to the roars.

"[...] It's something you'd be lucky to see in Kenya, yet alone a British safari park."

Topics: Animals, Travel, World News, Nature

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.