A 25-year-old Cuban veterinarian recounted how he survived an attack from a lion that fractured his femur in three places, kept him in intensive care for over five months, and left him with permanent repercussions.
In an interview published by Radio Sancti Spíritus, which went viral on social media, Eduardo Antonio González Hernández recounted that he was only 23 years old and had just graduated as a veterinarian when the incident occurred at the provincial zoo in Ciego de Ávila.
That day, the lion keeper had released the animal for a short while in a confined area, but he didn’t notify his colleagues and the veterinarian entered the enclosure.
"The lion keeper decided one fine day to take and release the lion," Eduardo recalled. When he reached in to open the door, the animal was already focused on him, waiting crouched on the other side.
The bite struck the right thigh with devastating force. "At that moment, what I felt was like someone hitting a zinc sheet with a stone. It was the sound of my bone cracking," he described. The femur fractured into three pieces in a single blow.
Eduardo reacted instinctively: he dug his fingers into the animal's eyes until the lion backed away and released him. The young man crawled out of the area to activate the alarm, and his colleagues arrived immediately.
"The first thing I thought was that I wasn't going to get out of there, I wasn't going to get out of that cage. I thought that when they came to get me, I would be a wreck," he confessed.
What followed was just as tough. The wound was not operated on until July 1—more than five months after the attack, which occurred in January—because it developed a severe infection.
Upon opening it, the doctors extracted five liters of pus from the thigh. The veterinarian attributed the serious infection to the animal's feeding conditions and stated that lions in captivity are given decomposing prey.
Eduardo suffered two cardiac arrests and spent about eight months in a wheelchair before regaining mobility through physical therapy.
The aftermath is permanent: a limp in the right leg, pins and plates implanted in the bone. "The pain doesn't go away; it's constant," he said.
The young veterinarian explained that his admission to intensive care was doubly complex because he felt unwell about his situation and was emotionally saddened for having injured the lion to survive. The animal lost one of its eyes.
"It was his way of defending himself, and I used my way to defend myself," said Eduardo. The young man confessed that he never intended to hurt the lion, but he was also not willing to die in that cage.
Two years later, Eduardo moved to Sancti Spíritus after getting married and, spontaneously, he approached the provincial zoo in that city to ask if they needed a veterinarian. They hired him immediately. At the time of the interview, he was still working directly with the lions.
"I don't have a fear of lions as such, but I do have respect for them, because I've already gone through a phase where I was almost a corpse," he stated.
The story generated a wide reaction among followers of Radio Sancti Spíritus. The comments ranged from admiration to indignation.
A user pointed out that the biggest danger was not the bite itself: "He was between life and death due to a months-long infection without knowing what was inside him, not because of the bite." Another voice directly addressed institutional responsibility: "A tremendous lack of care from the lion's caretakers; it almost cost him his life and left him with lasting effects."
The case arises amid a deep crisis in Cuban zoos: in August, a lion at the Las Tunas zoo killed another specimen after approximately two weeks without receiving meat, a fact that the provincial government acknowledged as "unacceptable."
The same zoo in Ciego de Ávila where Eduardo was attacked welcomed the lion "Panchito" in July, rescued from another zoo in Camagüey following reports of severe neglect.
"Life gave me a second chance to pursue what I love. I adore wild animals," Eduardo concluded.
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