44-year-old zookeeper enters lion's den to ‘impress girlfriend’, accidentally films his own death

A man entered into the lion’s den of a private zoo in Parkent district, where he was eaten alive by three lions. He unintentionally recorded his death.

A shocking video has captured the last moments of a man’s life before he was mauled to death by lions. Reportedly, the man who worked as a zookeeper at a private zoo in Parkent, Uzbekistan, entered the enclosure of the lions to record a video of himself to “impress" his girlfriend. His stunt, however, ended tragically, with him losing his life.

A 44-year-old man reportedly entered a lion's enclosure at 5 am to record a video (representative image). (Unsplash/pictagramar)

What did the video show?

According to the Mirror, 44-year-old F. Iriskulov approached the lion’s den at 5 am while working the night shift. The footage captured him opening the padlock and approaching the lions, who were sitting calmly.

As per the video, initially, it seemed like the big cats were not going to attack, but within moments, one of the animals suddenly approached him, and he was heard calling its name “Simba”, telling it to stay quiet. Iriskulov then went ahead to stroke the big cat's mane.

After a few moments, he flipped his camera to show his face and stroked one of the animals that came near him. However, things took a horrifying turn once the lion attacked him, and he kept on shouting, "Be quiet, be quiet.” He unintentionally captured his last moments on camera.

Police statement

Dailystar reported that the police released a statement to the local media about the incident. “Today, December 17, three lions kept in a single cage at the Lion Park private zoo, located in Parkent district of Tashkent Region, escaped into the zoo’s courtyard," the department said.

The lions entered the courtyard, attacking and injuring a 44-year-old keeper born in 1980. Unfortunately, the keeper later died from his injuries,” it added.