A terrifying moment was caught on camera when a Circus lion attacked a circus trainer during a live show, children of young age and parents were present when the incident happened.
The arms and legs of Hamada Kouta were clawed by the lion.
The incident happened during a circus show in the Lugansk City of Eastern Ukraine. Traveling circuses are banned in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, but Lugansk is outside Kiev.
Kouta, after the incident, said, “I called up one lion, and the second one attacked me from the front. I stopped him in the middle of the ring calmed him down but he refused to return to his sitting position. I stepped backward, there was a stand behind me, I hit it and fell. The lion jumped at me and bit me – but thank God, not on my neck.”
The 32-year-old added, “He immediately let me go. My back, arm, and leg were hurt. Scars from two claws and one tooth are on my leg, tooth marks on my arm, one four centimeters (one and a half inches) deep from three claws on my back.” Well, that’s what you get when you play with lions.”
Hamada Kouta works with ten lions.
Kouta said, “I calmly called them back because there were children in the audience. The most important thing for me is to see children in the audience. Of course, I was covered in blood, but I asked everybody to calm down, and started the performance all over again, from the beginning.”
Hamada said that the lions were not comfortable as they were made to perform soon after they arrived at the location of the show.
He added, “They did not have time to adapt, because we arrived and immediately began to perform. They were in stress, so it led to attack. They can be moody, like people. For example, you can wake up in the morning in a bad mood. That’s it, the whole day will be like this. They are just the same.”
Kouta believes that every scar is an experience. He said that he still trusts predators more than human beings and believes that humans are the most dangerous creatures in the earth.
He said that you can be friends with someone, but, once you turn your back, they stab you right away. And says that predators are different, he calls them serious and added that they do not cheat.
Kouta also said that when an animal attacks a trainer, most of the time a mistake was done by the trainer and not by the animal.
He added, “Anyway, they are my children, so I know anything can happen. But it will never end with death because they are my children. I know them and I trust them more than I trust people.”
Kouta attained injuries which affected his performance, he said that one tooth was inside his muscle.