After hearing the story of Harambe the Ape at the Cincinnati Zoo, this story of a lion chasing a child in a Japanese zoo fortunately had a better ending even though it could have been much worse.
Video surfaced of a lion chasing after a small child at the Chiba Zoological Park in Japan. The child was saved when the lion slammed face first into the glass separating the lions from the visitors.
Looking at the video, it appears the child did nothing wrong and was just looking at the lion. The lion bent down and looked ready to do something, which the child most likely would not realize. As the child turned around, the lion got his moment and went after the child before slamming into the glass.
According to NTV News24 English in Nippon, Japan, zookeepers claim that the lion is like that because he likes to “frolic around small children because he wants to play with them.”
Okay, I don’t claim to be a zookeeper but let’s go over a few things. Let’s say that’s true and the lion was just playing. 1) I’m pretty sure the freaked out child didn’t feel like playing when a big animal who is massively bigger is chasing him down. 2) The lion seems pretty intense in chasing to be playing. 3) I’m sure if there was no glass or the glass broke and the lion actually got to the child, I’m sure the zoo wouldn’t be so nonchalant about what happened even if wanting to play was the lion’s intent.
Like I said, this had a much better ending than what we’ve seen in recent weeks at the zoo, but it could have been much worse.