Two lions attack a circus trainer in Ukraine, in what is known as the "City of Lions"--raising the question of what else goes on that could spark the attack, and whether abuse is a possibility or probability.
Even in the United States lion attack which occurred only weeks ago, at the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas, the trainer was only bitten in the leg--and was fine; in fact, the lioness in Las Vegas, At MGM Grand, was actually trying to dissuade the lion from his nips at the trainer.
In direct contradiction, these lions in Ukraine seem to have fighting to the death on the their minds; one attacks, not shown on video, so that the trainer is limping already when video is actually shot; once video rolls, the limping circus trainer stays in the ring, then pokes at the lion again, with a steel rod--sparking the first lion to attack again; when that lion attacks the second time, a second lion simultaneously goes in, as if the trainer is prey.
This Ukraine circus situation reflect no level of respect displayed between man and animal, which shows in the United States tend toward. In fact there seems to be outright hatred, when two animals gang up to pounce on the same trainer. The fact that steel poles and fire hoses are kept at the ready, for such situations and to hose down the animals at high rates of speed or whack them with steel, reeks of abuse.
Those are things that occur at the front of the scenes--what may be occurring behind the scenes, in circus training as preparation, may be on par or worse yet. These lions and animals aren't working with the circus trainer, they're working against him--the tension on the video at an incredibly high level. The final line of the associated CNN video, from an Animal Planet expert: "If you notice, there's other people in that [circus] ring--those lions only want to get after the trainer." And "only after the trainer" means there's a reason the lions want him--only.
UKRAINE CIRCUS LION ATTACK VIDEO at associated link below