When the report of a veterinary technologist’s fatal mauling by a nine-year-old male lion emerged on Monday, the main details leading to the tragedy were still unclear because the authorities at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State first needed to conclude an investigation.

Two days after the death of Mr Olabode Olawuyi, 58, much-needed clarity has surfaced. It linked the passing of the deceased to nothing short of heroism and that is how he is being remembered.

Unfortunately, it was at the school’s zoological garden where the late Olawuyi had been working for over a decade that the sad incident had to occur and that has brought on inordinate grief. Primarily to the victim’s family and also the entire university community, which includes staff members.

One such is Mr Wole Odewumi, who is the Chairman of the National Association of Non-Academic Staff of Universities at the OAU branch. According to his findings, a woman was the first one to be attacked before the deceased tried to step in.

I spoke to some of his colleagues, and they told me what happened, the chairman told Punch. The lion attacked a woman first. The woman is also a staff working at the zoo.

The deceased intervened to free the woman from the lion. He must have assumed that the lion would recognise him. His intervention to free the woman must have infuriated the animal. The lion left the woman and attacked him squarely.

After he was freed from the lion’s grip, they rushed him to the health centre on campus here. He however died before he got there. But the second person [who] was attacked, a woman, is still on admission receiving treatment presently.

Following the lion’s assault on the 58-year-old veterinarian, the wild cat had to be put down. A viral social media clip captured this.

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While the feline was strutting through the landscape of tall grasses around the zoo, a trained shooter was aiming a gun in its direction.

The next video frame showed the lion retreating to the ground after a bullet hit it from behind a transparent fence that separated it from a group of alarmed zoo staff who were mourning as they sought revenge against the animal that took away one of their own.

It was in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital that a similar occurrence was recorded seven years ago. This time, Mr Hamzat Oyekunle, one of the attendants at the famous Agodi Gardens was killed. The deceased, before the incident, had familiarised himself with the animal when he fed it, but that closeness of five years could not shield him from an unexpected attack.

This is why the reactions to the latest OAU incident have mostly focused on keeping away from wild animals instead of trying to domesticate them. Adewale ‘Damilare’s X platform tweet on Monday sums up this feeling as it reads that it’s erroneous to believe that you can have a friendly wild animal.

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.