Man mauled to death by lion after climbing into zoo enclosure

A man who climbed over 18 feet to enter a lion's enclosure was fatally attacked in front of horrified zoo visitors.

A man who climbed over 18 feet to enter a lion's enclosure was fatally attacked in front of horrified zoo visitors.

Gerson de Melo Machado, 19, was mauled to death after he invaded a lioness' enclosure at Parque Zoobotânico Arruda Câmara in João Pessoa, Brazil, on Sunday morning, according to the Brazilian newspaper Correio Braziliense.

Machado climbed up the side structure of the lioness' cage and lowered himself into the enclosure by sliding down a tree, as seen in a disturbing video on X.

The teen scales the wall to climb into the lion enclosure. CPreparado via XThe lioness pounced on Machado as he was descending. He seemed to try to escape from the animal before he was pulled to the ground, the video shows.

The zoo will remain closed until investigations and official procedures are completed, it announced Sunday on Instagram.