Lion drags girl, 4, into cage in Russian zoo attack

A lion in a Russian zoo dragged a four-year-old girl through the bars of its cage and mauled her neck and arm.

Published: 7:29PM BST 30 May 2010

The girl was visiting a zoo in Tambov in southern Russia on Saturday with her grandparents when she approached the lion's enclosure, the Interfax news agency reported.

The animal dragged her in with its paw, a spokesman for the city's police said.

"The visitors and zoo workers managed to shoo away the animal, which had time to seriously maul the little girl's neck and arm," the police spokesman said.

The girl underwent an operation and on Sunday was in a "very serious" condition in a city hospital, Interfax reported.

A section of the bars around the lion's enclosure was missing, a Tambov district police officer, Sergei Ivashchenko, told Komsomolskaya Pravda daily.

Russian zoos, especially those in provincial towns, often keep animals in inhumane and cramped conditions.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/7786337/Lion-drags-girl-4-into-cage-in-Russian-zoo-attack.html