White tiger attacks young lion at Zapashny brothers circus performance
The horrifying moment a young lion was attacked by a tiger, who grabbed it by the throat in the middle of a performance in a Russian circus, was caught on camera. The incident took place in Moscow during a performance by the Zapashny brothers. The brothers are a pair who are famous for training animals.
The video shows the moment one of the performers leads a young lion across the ring when all of a sudden one of the tigers already present in the ring suddenly lunges at the unsuspecting lion. The tiger named Dieter jumped on the young male lion, David, and knocked him to the ground while biting his neck.
The Daily Mail reported that one of the ringmasters started throwing various objects at the two massive big cats who were in the middle of a heated fight at the time. The tiger was triggered for some unknown reason and the young lion was fighting back out of sheer bewilderment and the will to survive.
David, the young lion, finally threw the much larger white tiger off of him and tries to run away but, Dieter, was relentless and charges after the lion again. He jumps onto David and the two brawling cats could be seen rolling on the ground as they each try to gain the upper hand. The other big cats who were in the ring could be seen running away or just generally staying clear of the fighting animals.
Two of the circus performers who were in the ring at that time kept throwing various objects at the giant animals but it did not seem to have any effect whatsoever. 40-year-old animal trainer, Askold Zapashny, was finally able to separate the waring beasts after he shot a rubber bullet into the air close to the animals.
42-year-old Edgard Zapashny, animal trainer and head of the circus with the big cats, said in a statement later on that the incident between the two animals was nothing to worry about and was like a fight between two men.
Dieter the tiger is reportedly known to frequently start fights and he had apprently decided that during the performance was the best time to show David who was the boss.
Edgard Zapashny said, "If he had got a serious grip on the lion's neck, then most likely he would have strangled him had we not got involved. The spectators were reportedly safe as they were protected from the ring with a special net that is capable of holding the weight of an adult big cat."
Curiously, many users on social media seemed very nonchalant about the whole incident in the circus with one user commenting, "I have always been curious, what is actually stronger, a lion or a tiger." Another user commented, "Whoever is stronger is right. This is the law of the jungle."