Yehuda Meshi-Zahav attacked by lioness
ZAKA chairman lightly hurt after being set upon by lioness
Yehuda Meshi-Zahav is in South Africa to help train new volunteers for his organization; while walking with lionesses, one jumps and scratches him lightly; 'For the first time in my life, I felt the meaning of fear,' he says.
ZAKA chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav was attacked in South Africa on Wednesday by a lioness who did not appreciate him touching her.
Meshi-Zahav, who was only scratched and very lightly hurt, is in South Africa to train new volunteers for ZAKA, an umbrella of voluntary community emergency response teams.
"All is well, thank God," Meshi-Zahav said following the incident, which was caught on camera. "It was truly terrifying. For the first time in my life, I felt the meaning of fear and the might of the lioness."
ZAKA chairman attacked by lioness (צילום: מתי גולדשטיין )
He went on to say that "by instinct, I grabbed my kippah so it doesn't fly off my head. I remembered you mustn't fall to the ground, because then the lioness would devour you."
"I was saved by God's graces. I only had to get a tetanus shot from the local clinic so I don't contract any diseases from the scratches," Meshi-Zahav added.
Meshi-Zahav being set upon by the lioness
One of ZAKA's international unit members told Ynet, "We took a day off today to go on a hike in the jungle. There's an area there where you could walk with the lions. We received instructions beforehand and everything was okay. When it was Yehuda's turn to walk with the two lionesses, he was following instructions, but he might've touched them near their head because one of them jumped him. He regained his composure very quickly and the site's operators immediately worked to separate them."
