Human vs. Beast: Man Allegedly Kills a Lion With His Bare Hands in Uganda

A man successfully killed a full-grown lion with his bare hands during a brutal fight in Uganda. The incident purportedly occurred last week when information about the faceoff only started to spread on social media and from unverified reports on Saturday, April 9.

Started with a Tweet

(Photo : Photo by TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)

In a Twitter post by Ricky Kagino on Saturday, an attached photo below shows a shirtless man from CMS Iganga district in eastern Uganda sustained multiple wounds with scratches all over his body, including on the eye, cheek, right chest, right arm, left shoulder, and legs.

Twitter Error

The man is shown inside an unspecified establishment and is being nursed by several people. In addition, blood is seen dripping through some of the wound bandages. The tweet says that the image occurred after a standoff with a lion that he met near his house.

The other attached picture shows a male lion laying on the ground in a field.

Also Read: The Lion Whisperer Shows the Softer Side of these African Cats

Disputed Location

The location of the brawl has been contested as another Twitter user commented from the original post that they feasted on the lion in the Mpefu Kagadi district. It is also unclear what specific circumstances have led to the encounter between the man and the big cat.

On a separate platform, a Facebook post on Monday, April 11, from Nigeria-based news media site Daily Gist, a local council chief in Uganda stated that they are just waiting for the man to come from the hospital and commend his action.

However, the post also indicated that members of Uganda's Wild Life Officials are seeking an explanation from the so-called lion killer to local authorities as to why he never chose to flee during the encounter.

Lions: Behavior and Related Attacks

For years, the expansion of human settlements and hunting activities have significantly contributed to a population decline or even extinction of some animals, including African lions, whose population has shrunk by 50% over the 25 years, according to National Geographic.

Human-wildlife conflict is reportedly the greatest threat they have ever faced. Being territorial animals, male lions are known for defending their territory with urine, as well as attacking and chasing off unwarranted intruders.

Lions are the only species of cats that live in groups called pride; which consists of two to 40 lions, including three to four males, at least a dozen of females, and their young, as per National Geographic. Amongst these members, female lions are normally the pride hunters and offensive force.

Although encounters between humans and lions are rare, below are some of the most notable lion attacks in Africa:

In 2015, Katherine Chappell, an American film visual effects editor who also worked in the hit HBO series "Game of Thrones", was killed back in 2015 after being attacked by a lioness at the Lion Park in Johannesburg, South Africa. The female lion bit her on the neck when she opened her window.

Meanwhile, after the construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway in March 1898, two male lions (known as the Tsavo-Man eaters) dragged and killed dozens of sleeping railways workers from their campsite at night. The lions were identified as maneless male Tsavo lions, as per the Smithsonian Magazine.