The lion viciously attacked Oleg Zubkov during feeding time at Taigan Safari Park, leaving him with serious injuries just a year after it killed one of his colleagues
A world famous lion whisperer is fighting for his life after he was savagely mauled by a big cat he spared last year when it killed his colleague.
The animal brutally attacked Oleg Zubkov, 57, inflicting serious head, neck and lung wounds, and he is now in a “critical” condition in hospital. He was inside the enclosure during feeding time at Taigan Safari Park – which he founded – in Russian-occupied Crimea.
“There was terrible panic…..the lion dragged the man by the neck like a toy,” said a witness. The beast pulled Zubkov under a viewing platform, which is on a bridge over the enclosure.
Park employee Tatyana Aleksagina, 58, risked her own life by driving up close in the enclosure with a buggy and throwing a bucket at the lion, which then released Zubkov from its jaws. “We shouted for her to come back, and she threw the bucket at the animal, which freed the man before she ran away,” said the witness.
A park visitor climbed down a pipe into the enclosure to help her rescue the ravaged lion whisperer. “Our companion Alexei jumped into the enclosure, but realised she could not pull him away on her own,” said the witness.
“He dragged [Zubkov] to the buggy, laid him down and climbed back up out of danger.” Footage showed the moment the gravely wounded and bleeding Zubkov was loaded into the vehicle by Aleksagina and the park visitor. Blogger Sergei Marchenko said Zubkov went to feed the lions which were “restless”.
The tamer is famous for walking fearlessly among lions with people travelling from around the globe to witness him. He allows some visitors to “safely” mingle with untethered big cats.
Zubkov is regarded by his fans as an animal genius with mysterious powers and he has been featured by the media around the world. Famous ice dancer Tatiana Navka, 50, wife of Vladimir Putin’s senior aide and spokesman Dmitry Peskov, was once seen sitting on a Zubkov lion.
“When he approached one of the lions, which was eating meat, it went for him him, right in the neck, and knocked him down,” he said. “Aleksagina screamed for help.
“Then a man aged in his 40s climbed down the pipe from above, while his relatives were above, and helped to pull Zubkov into the buggy.”
Outside the enclosure, he was loaded into his Mercedes and driven to hospital. He was “unconscious” when they reached the local Belogorsk regional hospital when he underwent surgery late on Sunday. A park source said today that a “complex operation has been performed – the doctors are doing everything possible and impossible” to save him.
“It is very difficult for his family right now. It is such a shock, like a bolt from the blue. We are all praying for Oleg’s health and speedy recovery!”
Reports said the attacking lion was among those that Taigan Safari Park founder Zubkov refused to destroy when they killed highly-experienced big cat expert Leokadiya Perevalova, 41, a close colleague, in October 2024.
Perevalova had made a fatal mistake in failing to close a safety gate, he said. “Lions are top predators and they do not forgive mistakes,” he said.
“And a mistake was made.” Zubkov said at the time: ”I was horrified by the fact that the lions, despite the fact that they were well-fed, healthy, strong, they not only killed, but also started to gnaw her legs.
“And this is the horror, because if lions have tasted human meat, they get a taste for it.” Despite this, Zubkov did not put down the lions. In 2021, a tiger tore off the thumb of a one-year-old boy at the park after a mother held her son close to the enclosure.