A lion stands in the grassland during the setting up of a radio collar on the neck of a lioness at the Nairobi National Park near Kenya's capital Nairobi, January 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Home » WATCH Karoo Lion on the Loose Locked-Up in South African Jail (And Not Happy!)

WATCH Karoo Lion on the Loose Locked-Up in South African Jail (And Not Happy!)

CAPE TOWN – A young lion captured after being on the run for almost a month spent the night in a South African police cell before being moved back to its national park home. And judging by the video below, he wasn’t very happy about it! The juvenile male lion escaped from the Karoo National […]

14-03-19 23:25
A lion stands in the grassland during the setting up of a radio collar on the neck of a lioness at the Nairobi National Park near Kenya's capital Nairobi, January 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

CAPE TOWN – A young lion captured after being on the run for almost a month spent the night in a South African police cell before being moved back to its national park home. And judging by the video below, he wasn’t very happy about it!

The juvenile male lion escaped from the Karoo National Park, apparently making his great escape through a hole in a perimeter fence.

He was eventually tracked and darted on Wednesday before being moved by helicopter to the Sutherland police station where he ended up alone in a holding cell.

“I am sure this is the first time in the world that a lion is put in jail,” said police station commander Captain Marius Malan.

He said luckily the jail had no human guests on Wednesday night!

Curious residents of the village of Sutherland, known more for one of the southern hemisphere’s largest optical telescopes, thronged outside the police station to catch a glimpse of the locked-up lion.

“He is safe and healthy. We didn’t give him breakfast because he had enough to eat along the road,” Malan told Reuters this morning.

Malan said the lion, believed to be two years old, was to be darted again before being transported back to his natural habitat at the Karoo National Park.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Robert Birsel)

WATCH The Karoo lion is not very happy about being locked up after his month-long escape