A disturbing video has captured the moment a zookeeper entered a lions' cage in an attempt to "impress his girlfriend" and was fatally attacked by the animals.
The guard, identified as 44-year-old F. Iriskulov, filmed himself approaching the lions' cage prior to being mauled, unintentionally capturing his last moments on camera.
The incident took place at approximately 5 a.m. on Dec. 17, during his night shift at a private zoo in Parkent, Uzbekistan. The video captures Iriskulov opening a padlock on the enclosure before making his way inside.
Initially, the three giant cats sit calmly in the far corner of the enclosure, but take the man by surprise as one of the lions leaps to life, before they approach him.
He repeatedly mentions one of the lions' names, "Simba," before ordering the animal to keep quiet.
Despite being surrounded by lions, he confidently flips the camera to reveal his face, as if he were recording the video to send to his fiancée. When one of the animals approaches him, the keeper strokes it, indicating that they are acquainted.
However, the lion licks its lips as soon as he touches the animal's mane and the man briefly turns to face the metal gate. The footage then takes a terrifying turn, with one of the lions attacking the unsuspecting keeper.
With his camera still going, he can be heard screaming loudly as the creatures overwhelm him. The video cuts to black, but the eerie sound of his screams reverberates as he keeps pleading, "Be quiet, be quiet."
The video is graphic in nature. Viewer discretion is advised:
The video then cuts, but the guard is said to have been eaten alive by the lions. The animals "tore the skin off the guard's face," the Russian authorities said. After the deadly attack, rescuers shot the third lion dead and tranquilized the other two. "The lions killed him and partially consumed his body," according to an official statement.
It was disclosed that it took four hours for other zoo employees to discover what remained of the man's body. Authorities checked and secured the enclosures of all the animals as part of their investigation into the grisly incident.
"As a result of the measures taken, the lions were returned to a special cage. No other people in the vicinity were harmed. There is currently no danger to the local population," the Department of Internal Affairs said in a statement.
