Escaped Circus Lion Injures Three in China

BEIJING: A circus lion startled by the audience at a show in eastern China leapt a barrier and plunged into the crowd, injuring three people including a woman who suffered a miscarriage, state media reported today.

The lion was performing for a small roaming circus that performed on Monday night in Mingguang, a town in east China’s rural Anhui province, Xinhua news agency reported.

Frightened by noise from the 200-strong audience, it leapt over a two-metre high barrier and lunged into the panicked crush of spectators.

“One pregnant woman was crushed and suffered a miscarriage from the shock,” the report said. “Because the lion was rented, it didn’t trust the trainers,” it added.

Circus staff and police chased the escaped lion as it jumped walls and rooftops, but nets and anaesthetic dart guns failed to catch it, and police shot the animal dead.