In a chilling incident, two lions attacked a Toyota Innova carrying tourists visiting Bannerghatta National Park located in Karnataka last week. Fortunately, the driver managed to drive away and escape the scene.
What makes it even more shocking is that this is the second time the same vehicle has been attacked by lions in the national park.
A video of the incident was shot by a safari bus driver behind the Innova. The video shows how two lions followed the SUV, while one of them even tried to climb the car.
According to Santosh Kumar, the executive director of Bannerghatta National Park: “The attack took place on January 28 or 29. The driver is clearly at fault. He should never have stopped the car, which he probably did to please the visitors. We’ve removed him from safari duty.”
Kumar said that meshes are installed on windows of bigger vehicles but it is difficult to fit meshes on all sides for smaller vehicles. He said that they are planning to send a proposal to the state government to remove small vehicles.
But a veterinarian who has been monitoring the behaviour of lions in Bannerghatta National Park gave this reason behind why the lions attacked:
“The lions or any other animal in the safari could have chased the vehicle out of curiosity or to break the boredom that dogs captive animals. If you see such videos, you will observe that lions don’t attack the vehicle or people in it. They stop whenever the vehicle stops. Sometimes, taunts and noise by visitors also irritate them.”
This is the video of the lions lunging at the car:
In September 2016, a similar incident was reported when a lion charged at the same vehicle, taking a family on a safari.
