A lion mauled a game park worker to death before eating him as he embarked on a forbidden nighttime stroll in a South African reserve.
Johannes Matshe, 30, was killed on the grounds of the Dinokeng Game Reserve in Gauteng, where he worked as an employee, after he ventured outdoors on the night of Sunday, August 13.
He was stalked and mercilessly attacked by one of the reserve’s big cat residents, which left his blood-spattered remains scattered over the grounds.
Mr Matshe was discovered by the park’s operations manager, who found his colleague’s body the morning after the attack.
Reserve representatives have said he may have been perceived as a ‘normal prey species’ by the lion, which left behind a grisly scene.
Horrifying pictures showed the extent of the attack inflicted on Mr Matshe before he was found on Monday.
The images, which are too gory for Emmanuelsblog.com.ng to publish, show strips of flesh torn from the worker’s skull and a severed leg lying in the tall grass.
Hartogh Streicher, a spokesman for Dinokeng, said nighttime walks on the reserve are dangerous and strictly forbidden.
He warned that lions are ‘nocturnal animals, driven by their natural instinct and hunting patterns’.
