Newsletters
A male lion named Zeus escaped from its enclosure at the Land of Lions (Aslan Diyari) zoo in Manavgat, a district in Türkiye’s southern Antalya province, in the early hours of Sunday morning. According to the Antalya Governor’s Office, the animal broke out around 3:21 a.m., triggering an incident that would result in a rare and near-fatal lion bite.
Suleyman Kir, who was attacked while resting in his pistachio orchard, managed to survive after a fierce 15-minute struggle with the lion. He was later taken to Akdeniz University Hospital in Antalya for emergency treatment.
Medical staff at Akdeniz University described Kir's injuries as severe but not life-threatening. The hospital’s rector, Ozlenen Ozkan, explained that Kir had wounds on his abdomen, legs, and both ears, along with an incomplete neck fracture. While the neck injury did not require surgery, it will be monitored closely due to the risk of complications.
“If the fracture had gone a bit deeper, it could have resulted in paralysis,” said Ozkan, adding that facial injuries fortunately stopped just above the eye.
Describing the event as one of the rarest cases the hospital has seen, Ozkan noted, “This was actually only the second lion bite case treated at our hospital.”
Kir’s wife, Gulperi Kir, witnessed the attack first-hand. She recounted that they had turned on the irrigation system in their field and then laid down to rest under a blanket to protect themselves from mosquitoes. Around 3:30 a.m. or 4:00 a.m., she felt something touch her foot and assumed it was a dog. “I sat up and saw something huge–at first I thought it was a dog,” she told Anadolu Agency.
As the lion attacked, her husband jumped into action. Gulperi said, “He struggled for 15-20 minutes with the lion,” while she tried to alert nearby relatives and neighbors. Eventually, four vehicles, including police and gendarmerie units, arrived on the scene. Flashlights revealed the lion walking away through the field before it disappeared.
Still shaken, she described her disbelief at the event. “Even if I saw it in a dream, I wouldn’t believe it,” she said.
In a video shared by his son, Kir described the attack from his perspective. “I had a blanket over me. When I lifted the blanket, I saw the lion had pounced on me. We wrestled for a while. I called for help, but there was no one around,” he said. He explained that the lion bit his thigh and neck, but he managed to grab its neck and squeeze it, causing the animal to flee.
This is not the first time the Land of Lions zoo has faced scrutiny. In May 2023, a 4-year-old child was injured by a lion at the same facility after being brought into an area that should have been accessible only to staff.
The child was also treated at Akdeniz University Hospital.
1 min read
