Lioness shot dead after escaping from tourist farm in North Gyeongsang

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Lioness shot dead after escaping from tourist farm in North Gyeongsang

Published: 14 Aug. 2023, 10:06 Updated: 14 Aug. 2023, 15:47

A lioness was shot dead an hour after escaping from a farm in Goryeong County, North Gyeongsang, on Monday. [GYEONGBUK FIRE SERVICE HEADQUARTERS]

A lioness was shot dead an hour after escaping from a farm in Goryeong County, North Gyeongsang, the county said.

It said an emergency call placed at 7:24 a.m. on Monday reported a lioness had escaped from a tourist farm in Deokgok-myeon, Goreyeong County.

The county alerted its residents of the escape and began a search mission.

A total of 159 people were dispatched to locate the lioness.

The search team located the lioness hiding behind a bush just 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet) away from the farm an hour later. It was then shot dead.

The tourist farm, which opened in February 2022, was raising the lioness without a proper license, as it is only authorized to raise farm animals.

The Goryeong County office said it wasn't aware that the farm was raising a lioness while knowing there was a zoo. The county plans to investigate how the farm started raising the lioness.

However, it has come to light that many of the visitors who stayed at a nearby campsite, just 300 meters away from the farm, were aware of the lioness's presence.

It lived in a small steel cage with a container box at the back. The farm also raises deer.

The lioness after it was shot dead, an hour after escaping a tourist farm in Goryeong County, North Gyeongsang, on Monday [GYEONGBUK FIRE SERVICE HEADQUARTERS]

On Friday, two chimpanzees escaped from the zoo at Dalseong Park in Daegu.

The chimpanzees were reported to have escaped around 8:50 a.m.

While the female chimpanzee, Alex, was able to return to her cage at 9:30 a.m., the male had to be tranquilized.

Three shots were fired.

However, the male chimpanzee, Rudy, died around 1 p.m.

According to a city official, the chimpanzees escaped from their enclosure when a zookeeper entered the cage for cleaning.

While Alex was successfully brought back into her enclosure, Rudy was just seconds away from returning to his enclosure when he attacked one of the zookeepers, leaving an about 5-centimeter (1.9-inch) scar on the zookeeper's left arm.

One of the two chimpanzees that had escaped from Dalseong Park in Daegu on Friday roaming around. People at the park had to be evacuated. [Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency]

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]