{"id":108,"date":"2025-12-02T12:32:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T12:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/?p=108"},"modified":"2025-12-02T12:32:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T12:32:15","slug":"teen-who-wanted-to-work-with-animals-mauled-to-death-by-lion-after-climbing-into-zoo-enclosure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/?p=108","title":{"rendered":"Teen who wanted to work with animals mauled to death by lion after climbing into zoo enclosure"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 19-year-old dreamed of training big cats<\/h2>\n
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A teen who dreamed of working with big cats has tragically been mauled to death by a lion in a zoo.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gerson Machado, from\u00a0Brazil<\/a>, had reportedly tried to get to\u00a0Africa<\/a>\u00a0by stowing himself on a plane in a bid to get up close and train the predatory\u00a0felines<\/a>, until his face-to-face meeting with a big cat ended in tragedy.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old allegedly broke into a\u00a0lion<\/a>\u00a0enclosure while visiting a zoo in Brazil, called Arruda Camara Zoobotanical Park in the city of Joao Pessoa, on Sunday (November 30), which involved scaling a huge wall and shimmying down a tree.<\/p>\n

Disturbing footage shows the moment the lioness then pounced on the teen moments before he touched the ground, in full view of other zoo visitors who watched on in horror.<\/p>\n

Zoo vets described the animal as being ‘stressed’ and ‘in shock’ after seeing the trespasser.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/div>\n

The harrowing footage went viral online (X)<\/cite><\/div>\n

In the footage, the lion, Leona, could be seen lying near to the glass where visitors are stood filming when she makes a swift move towards the tree as Gerson comes down it.<\/p>\n

After pulling him to the ground, bushes could be seen shaking.<\/p>\n

The teen momentarily could be seen standing up from the bush before suddenly disappearing from view again.<\/p>\n

Officials then announced the teen had died as a result of his\u00a0injuries<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In an\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0post,\u00a0the park said<\/a>\u00a0‘euthanasia was never considered’ for Leona in the aftermath of the tragedy, adding that she ‘shows no aggressive behaviour outside the context of the incident’.<\/p>\n

According<\/a>\u00a0to The Sun, Gerson grew up in care and had\u00a0mental health<\/a>\u00a0issues, having reportedly confessed to social workers over the years of his ambition to live amongst Africa’s big cats.<\/p>\n

Child protection worker Veronica Oliveira said in a video on Instagram that she supported the youngster for eight years and revealed the moment he was caught trying to board a\u00a0plane<\/a>\u00a0to ‘go on safari to Africa to look after lions’.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thanked God when I was warned by the airport that you had cut the fence and got inside the landing gear compartment of a Gol Airlines plane,” she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thanked God because they saw on the cameras that there was a teenager there before a tragedy happened.”<\/p>\n

The professional also told the outlet that his childhood was marked by poverty and a family history of mental health illnesses, and that he ‘should have been in treatment’.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cGerson was a child who suffered violations of his rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the son of a mother with schizophrenia, with grandparents who also had mental health issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/div>\n

The lioness pounced as the teen used a tree to gain entry into the enclosure (X)<\/cite><\/div>\n

Oliveira continued: \u201cGerson\u2019s story is that of a boy who just wanted to get to know Africa to tame lions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe discovered too late that a lion isn\u2019t a domestic cat and that we can\u2019t tame them without the right knowledge.<\/p>\n

“Sadly he wasn\u2019t sensible enough for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

City hall officials confirmed the zoo would remain closed while an investigation is underway, adding: “The man killed scaled a 20ft wall and managed to get into the animal enclosure using one of the trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to police it was a possible act of suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough security staff tried to stop him, he acted very quickly and died as a result of the injuries the lioness inflicted on him<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to express our solidarity with the family of the victim of this regrettable incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

The zoo\u00a0added in a statement<\/a>\u00a0on Instagram that the incident was ‘extremely sad’.<\/p>\n

“We reiterate that the park follows rigorous technical standards and safety protocols, and we are fully cooperating with all responsible bodies to clarify the facts,” the zoo added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 19-year-old dreamed of training big cats A teen who dreamed of working with big cats has tragically been mauled to death by a lion in a zoo. Gerson Machado, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110,"href":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions\/110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heightshowtime.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}