Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - A world famous lion whisperer is fighting for his life after he was savagely mauled by a lion he spared last year when it k!lled his colleague.
The animal brutally attacked Oleg Zubkov,
57, inflicting serious head, neck and lung wounds, and he is now in a
“critical” condition in hospital.
Oleg Zubkov, who founded Taigan Safari Park in
Russian-occupied Crimea, was inside the enclosure during feeding time when the
big cat attacked him.
“There was terrible panic…..the lion dragged the man by the
neck like a toy,” said a witness.
The beast pulled Zubkov under a viewing platform, which is on a bridge over the enclosure.
Park employee Tatyana Aleksagina, 58, risked her own life by
driving up close in the enclosure with a buggy and throwing a bucket at the
lion, which then released Zubkov from its jaws.
“We shouted for her to come back, and she threw the bucket
at the animal, which freed the man before she ran away,” said the
witness.
A park visitor climbed down a pipe into the enclosure to
help her rescue the ravaged lion whisperer.
“Our companion Alexei jumped into the enclosure, but
realised she could not pull him away on her own,” said the witness.
“He dragged [Zubkov] to the buggy, laid him down and climbed
back up out of danger.”
Footage showed the moment the gravely wounded and bleeding
Zubkov was loaded into the vehicle by Aleksagina and the park visitor. Blogger
Sergei Marchenko said Zubkov went to feed the lions which were
“restless”.
The tamer is famous for walking fearlessly among lions with
people travelling from around the globe to witness him. He allows some visitors
to “safely” mingle with untethered big cats.
Zubkov is regarded by his fans as an animal genius with mysterious powers and he has been featured by the media around the world. Famous ice dancer Tatiana Navka, 50, wife of Vladimir Putin’s senior aide and spokesman Dmitry Peskov, was once seen sitting on a Zubkov lion.
“When he approached one of the lions, which was eating meat,
it went for him him, right in the neck, and knocked him down,” he said.
“Aleksagina screamed for help.
“Then a man aged in his 40s climbed down the pipe from above, while his
relatives were above, and helped to pull Zubkov into the buggy.”
Outside the enclosure, he was loaded into
his Mercedes and driven to hospital. He was “unconscious” when they
reached the local Belogorsk regional hospital when he underwent surgery late on
Sunday.
A park source said today that a “complex operation has been
performed - the doctors are doing everything possible and impossible” to save
him.
“It is very difficult for his family right now. It is such a
shock, like a bolt from the blue. We are all praying for Oleg's health and
speedy recovery!”
Reports said the attacking lion was among those that Taigan
Safari Park founder Zubkov refused to destroy when they k!lled
highly-experienced big cat expert Leokadiya Perevalova, 41, a close colleague,
in October 2024.
Perevalova had made a fatal mistake in failing to close a
safety gate, he said. “Lions are top predators and they do not forgive
mistakes,” he said.
“And a mistake was made.” Zubkov said at the time: ”I was
horrified by the fact that the lions, despite the fact that they were well-fed,
healthy, strong, they not only killed, but also started to gnaw her legs.
"And this is the horror, because if lions have tasted human meat, they get
a taste for it.”
Despite this, Zubkov did not put down the lions. In 2021, a
tiger tore off the thumb of a one-year-old boy at the park after a mother held
her son close to the enclosure.
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