Czech mayor's wonderful understatement

Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson

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"Today's incident will perhaps finally help to resolve this long-term problem," said Zdechov mayor Tomas Kocourek."

(In response to an illegally kept lion in a home made pen in a villager's back yard having mauled the owner to death). Subtle ehh? :)



A man has been mauled to death by a lion caged at his family home in the eastern Czech Republic.

Michal Prasek owned the nine-year-old big cat and another lioness for breeding, reportedly drawing concern from local residents.

Mr Prasek's father found his body in the lion's cage and told local media it had been locked from the inside.

The animals - living in separate pens - were shot dead by police called to the scene.

A police spokesperson told local media that the shootings were "absolutely necessary for them to get to the man".

Mr Prasek, 33, bought the lion in 2016 and the lioness last year, and kept them both in home-made enclosures in his back yard in the village of Zdechov.

He had previously been denied planning permission to build the pens, and was subsequently fined for illegal breeding.

But his conflict with the authorities reached a stalemate after he refused to let anyone onto his property.

A lack of alternative facilities in the Czech Republic, or any evidence of animal cruelty, also meant the lions could not be forcibly removed.

Mr Prasek made headlines last summer after a cyclist collided with the lioness as he was taking her for a walk on a leash.

After intervention by police, the incident was deemed a traffic accident.



"Today's incident will perhaps finally help to resolve this long-term problem," said Zdechov mayor Tomas Kocourek.



Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47454610
 
Minusorange said:
It's a shame they had to kill the cats
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They didn't.

The bloke was already dead, it's not like they couldn't have tranq'd them.

But these days everybody is trigger happy. Even zoo staff are shooting their animals. We have a completely callous disregard for any life other than human life.
 
The man in question, apparently:
10612158-6773637-image-a-22-1551807030327.jpg

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105898204-e924480f-65bc-40f9-972b-7982649fd093.jpg


I find it hard to see how they had to shoot the lions to get to the man. Or rather, I don't understand why they had to get to the man. I would presume it was obvious that he was dead in which case what is the rush?
 
It's unfortunate but the safety of the rescue staff and police personnel must be paramount, for safety requirements the least dangerous
big cat is not a tranquilised big cat, it's a dead big cat.
 
It's odd that the article claims the cats were in separate pens yet both were shot. Very sad to lose another two. But even odder that a guy in an EU country can keep a fully grown lion and lioness in his garden and defy the authorities for so long. Taking the lioness on a leashed walk is quite cool though, but it has a precedent in the UK, years back when a zoo worker took a lion to his local pub :) With knife crime so rife the idea quite appeals to me to be honest. I'll have to look on Ebay for a cub ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cnchljaCec
 
Roland Butter said:
It's unfortunate but the safety of the rescue staff and police personnel must be paramount, for safety requirements the least dangerous
big cat is not a tranquilised big cat, it's a dead big cat.
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That's not a convincing argument when a tranq'd animal + professional handlers are more than capable of moving these animals with low/managed risk.

But hey, let's kill another two of a species that is dying out due to human pressures anyhow. I'm sure it won't make any difference in the long term, when they'll all be extinct.

In fact I'm fairly sure a vast number of our species are heading inexorably for extinction, because literally nobody gives the smallest of tosses about anything other than Taylor Swifts latest boyfriend (or whatever trivial concerns most humans these days fixate on).

Our species really is a disaster for this entire planet.
 
Its a very saddening story, loss of human life, and then removing two breeding age animals from an already declining population.
 
FoxEye said:
That's not a convincing argument when a tranq'd animal + professional handlers are more than capable of moving these animals with low/managed risk. .
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You gotta see it from the point of the local law enforcement at the scene, this is the Czech Republic, a poor country, how long to wait for a
qualified big cat vet and professional big cat handlers ?

Meanwhile poor Mr Prasek is being slowly gnawed upon while his family and neighbours look on.
 
There are a surprising number of people here in the UK who keep dangerous wild animals. I hold a dangerous wild animal licence myself, but that compound the lions were kept in as shown in the photos would be ridiculed by UK authorities, it's entirely inadequate to contain big cats. I think I once posted a link to counties in the UK and what people kept on private property.

Here's one but it hasn't got the current list.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nearly-5000-dangerous-wild-animals-12590829


I think Ireland is still pretty lax on keeping dangerous wild animals. It probably comes as surprisingly easy to get a licence for many potentially lethal animals from most UK councils if you have proper compounds and can persuade them you are not selling protected species to unlicensed keepers.

I breed Anatolian Karabash dogs, a still quite primitive flock guarding breed and some have gone to Botswana as part of a cheetah conservation trust operation. I draw the line at a big cat though, much as I admire those who keep them privately and live to tell their tales. A lady and her late husband who also breed Karabash's just outside Wrexham kept a bear in the sixties, which went out in their van, and once escaped and turned up in their village much to the consternation of the locals.

Things have been tightened up a lot since then though. Late sixties saw a boutique on the A6 just up from Stockport shopping precinct where the stunningly lovely lady owner kept a black panther on a golden chain in the shop. I remember going in to stroke it quite often, then as I got older I was more interested in the owner ;)
She drove to and fro work in a convertible Peugeot with the top down and the panther on the passenger seat, it used to cause quite a stir! As far as i know it never bit or mauled anyone, but you'd be locked up trying something like that these days. Paris in the forties and fifties used to see quite a few celebrities with panthers and cheetahs sat outside the cafes. Salvador Dali used to walk his anteaters on a lead...

Who needs an over fed Staffie in a brass decorated harness pretending to be a pit bull ;)
 
FoxEye said:
They didn't.

The bloke was already dead, it's not like they couldn't have tranq'd them.

But these days everybody is trigger happy. Even zoo staff are shooting their animals. We have a completely callous disregard for any life other than human life.
Click to expand...

The animals - living in separate pens - were shot dead by police called to the scene
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What's the point of your quote? That they were police and not vets? Could the police not have thought, "You know what, there are people who can safely remove animals alive... what are they called, again? They're always prancing around on the Discovery Channel, doing stuff in Africa. We might have some of those guys. Hmm, never mind, my gun is loaded and I haven't shot anything for yonks. Die, criminal lion scum!"
 
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