Shocking moment lion pounces on British man and drags him into enclosure at a park in South Africa

A video footage shared online shows the shocking moment a wildlife park owner was savagely mauled by a lion in front of screaming onlookers after he entered the animal’s enclosure.

Mike Hodge, a 67-year-old British expat, was rushed to hospital with injuries to the neck and jaw following the shocking incident caught in South Africa. In the video filmed at the Marakele Predator Park in South Africa, Mr Hodge is seen entering the lion’s enclosure.

He reportedly went in to check out a smell that was upsetting one of the lions. However, while he was in the enclosure, a lion charges towards him. Mr Hodge turns around and runs towards the gate leading out of the enclosure but the lion catches up before he can exit the enclosure. The big animal pounces on Hodge and drags him deeper into the enclosure as onlookers cry for help. Then, suddenly, a loud bang is heard and the lion drops Mr Hodge and runs for cover.

Hodge was taken to the hospital where he is making a recovery. Pictures shows Mr Hodge smiling in his hospital bed despite his injuries, with a friend telling The Sun that he is recovering from the dramatic ordeal.

The friend said: “Mike and one of his rangers were a little concerned about a smell in a compound that was upsetting one of the lions and had gone in through the gate to see what was causing it.

“He is no fool around lions and knows how to interact with them but clearly something went wrong”.

Mr Hodge set up the Marakele predator park with his wife Chrissy as a passion project. The park was established in 2010 after the Hodge and Chrissy emigrated from the UK. They moved to South Africa in 1999 and started a lion conservation project in 2003 on a farm 30kms from Thabazimbi. A few years later they relocated to the town in the Limpopo province and founded the Marakele Predator Park.

Marakele remains closed in the wake of the attack. The lion is thought to have been killed in the wake of the grisly attack.

Go here to watch the video.