Teacher attacked by Lion

[grayghost]

Posted Feb 7, 11:49 AM
British teacher attacked by lion on safari
By Sophie Borland
Last Updated: 1:50am GMT 04/02/2008


A young primary school teacher has told how she narrowly escaped with her life after she was savagely mauled by a lion on an African safari trip.


Kate Drew, 28, was pounced on from behind by the 28st animal as she walked through an enclosed area of the Zimbabwe game reserve and knocked over.

She was pinned to the ground as the lion sank its huge teeth into the back of her head, leaving her screaming in terror.

But armed park rangers who were leading the tour saved her life by wrestling the creature away from her prone body and rushing her to get medical help.

Miss Drew was driven to a nearby clinic where doctors treated her wounds with 30 stitches. She had suffered three deep cuts to her head, one of which came close to the lower part of her brain.

Recalling her ordeal back in England, she said: "We were in a place where they breed lions to put them back into the wild.

"I was a bit apprehensive but we were just leaving and everything seemed to have gone well until this one lion jumped at me from behind.

"I was scared enough when he pinned me on the ground so when I looked up and saw two more coming towards me I thought 'oh my God I'm a-goner.'"

Miss Drew added: "Luckily for me he was only playing otherwise I would not be here to tell the tale."

It is thought her long blonde hair confused the lion, who mistook her for a playmate.

It is not known how many people fall prey to lion attacks but in the neighbouring country of Tanzania there have been reports of more than 100 every year.

The attack happened last month while Miss Drew, from Hornchurch, Essex, was on a "walk with lions" tour which offers visitors the opportunity to stroke and pet animals in an area specially set aside for breeding.

Miss Drew, a teacher at Ardleigh Green Road Junior School, Hornchurch, had paid £24 for the experience as part of a three-week long trip through Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Kenya.

She did not tell her parents about the attack until she had returned home last week.

Her mother Carole Drew, 57, a teaching assistant, said: "She was terrified. She said she had been walking along, they had actually been stroking the lions, and they were getting close to the gate at the end when a lion leapt up and knocked her to the ground.

"It had her on the floor and bit the back of her head. She said it was very painful, she was screaming.

"She almost passed out because she couldn't believe it was happening."

Mrs Drew added: "We didn't find out what had happened until she got back, she didn't want to worry us.

"We picked her from the airport and she said "I suppose I'd better tell you, I got bitten by a lion', I couldn't believe it, if I'd have known I'd have flown straight out there."

Her father Colin Drew, a retired oil trader, added: "I was obviously a bit shocked that she had been so close to coming completely unstuck.

"We always urge her to take care but she is an extremely adventurous woman. Hopefully this will be a wake-up call for her."

Miss Drew had booked the tour having completed three months' voluntary work as a primary school teacher in Tanzania for the charity Village Action.

She had been teaching English to more than 100 young children in the impoverished area of Yamba, in the Tanga region to the north of the country.

Miss Drew has now recovered from the lion attack and has flown to Peru to spend two months with Village Africa teaching children in an orphanage.

The lion was thought to be a juvenile male cub aged about one year old.

The "walk with lions" tour takes place through an enclosed area of the game reserve that has been set aside for the breeding of cubs.

The lions are relatively tame and are used to being petted and stroked by visitors who pass through every day.

Caroline Drew, Kate Drew's mother, said that park rangers had told her daughter that an attack like this had never happened before.

[Valigator]

No personal injury attorneys over there I would guess....

[fishnfrank]

No kidding. She would have to beat the lawyers off with a stick and change her phone number if that was here in the states.

[grayghost]

Lucky for her the Lion was only playing!