Houdini the Lion - his vet speaks

TRAILER: SCALES SMOOTH 2.5M WALLS, SQUEEZES THROUGH

- Cathy Grosvenor & Allison Cooper

The vet involved in capturing the lion that escaped from a moving trailer near Bakerville in the North West yesterday said its escape was “extraordinary”.

Speaking to Caxton Network News, Dr Anton Nel of the Lichtenburg Animal Hospital said the trailer’s walls were smooth and about 2.5m high. Yet, the lion managed to get through an observation hatch in the roof and somehow manoeuvred his large body through the small opening.

Nel was working at a farm when he received the call to assist with an escaped lion on the road between Lichtenburg and Zeerust. The animal was en route from the Free State, where it had been purchased, to a game farm in Nietverdiend in the Ramotshere Moiloa region.

He said he arrived at around 3pm, about an hour after the videos that were circulating on social media were taken.

“Fortunately, the area is not built-up and there was little traffic,” he said. The lion was found lying in the grass under a tree and still had some of the sedation it received earlier in its system.

“It was mellow,” said Nel.