Lion Kills Lioness at Dallas Zoo as Horrified Visitors Look on (VIDEO)
Visitors at the Dallas zoo were horrified when they witnessed a lion attack and kill a lioness in their exhibit on Sunday afternoon.
Zoo officials are still puzzled days after the attack and have yet to determine why the lion set upon the lioness.
The 5-year-old lioness, Johari, was bitten in the neck by one of the male lions in her pride around 2:15 p.m., the zoo officials revealed.
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Dozens of zoo visitors witnessed the horrific attack, according to KTXA.
"At first you think they're playing, and then you realize he's killing her, and ... you're watching it and you just can't believe your eyes," witness Michael Henshaw told WFAA.
"The male lion that started it just had his mouth over her throat, and everyone thought they were playing at first," witness Jim Harvey told KTXA. 'But then they could see she was struggling."
The zoo said Johari did not suffer too much during the attack and died soon after it began.
Another witness, Dylan Parker, told WFAA that the lion lunged for Johari and held the lioness by the neck for roughly ten minutes and only let go after the lioness stopped struggling.
Trainers at the zoo were directed to close the exhibit after the incident. Zoo officials revealed that both the lion and three other lions, his brother and Johari's two sisters, were taken to separate holding cells.
Lynn Kramer, a veterinarian and the zoo's vice president of animal operations and welfare, said the attack was something that very rarely, if ever, happens.
"In my 35 years as a veterinarian in zoos, I've never seen this happen," he told KTXA.
In light of the incident zoo officials have decided to keep both the lions and lioness separated, but that the lionesses were expected to be put back into the habitat on Monday, the zoo said.
There is no word on when the animals will be put back in the same habitat and zoo officials are still investigating possible reason for why the attack took place, as reported by WFAA.
