A TEENAGER mauled to death by a lioness in front of horrified visitors at a Brazil zoo has been pictured for the first time.
Gerson de Melo Machado, 19, slipped into the big cat’s pen at the Arruda Câmara Zoobotanical Park in João Pessoa on Sunday.
Video captured him clambering down a tree inside the enclosure after scaling a 20ft wall before Leona the lioness set upon him.
Zoo vets said Leona was left “stressed” and “in shock” after the incident.
The park was closed following the attack with no reopening date, according to local reports.
Machado, who spent much of his life in care and struggled with severe mental health issues, had a long-standing fixation with big cats.
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He had once tried to reach Africa as a plane stowaway to pursue his dream of being a lion trainer and was known to police for repeatedly breaching security.
Correctional officer Ed Alves said the teen had 16 prior arrests, ten as a minor.
Local reports said Machado had made earlier attempts to enter the Arruda enclosure.
He had also been referred to a Psychosocial Care Centre (CAPS), but escaped the facility.
Child protection worker Veronica Oliveira, who supported him for eight years, said he grew up in extreme poverty without a proper family support structure.
She described him as someone with mental health issues like his mother, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Oliveira told a Brazilian news website: “Gerson was a child who suffered violations of his rights.”
Recalling his dreams of working with lions, she wrote: “You told me you were going to take a plane to go on safari to Africa to look after lions.
“I thanked God when I was warned by the airport that you had cut the fence and got inside the landing gear compartment of a Gol Airlines plane.
“I thanked God because they saw on the cameras that there was a teenager there before a tragedy happened.”
Oliveira continued: “Gerson’s story is that of a boy who just wanted to get to know Africa to tame lions
“He discovered too late that a lion isn’t a domestic cat and that we can’t tame them without the right knowledge. Sadly he wasn’t sensible enough for that.”
The park’s administration said the enclosure complies with federal government agency Ibama’s construction standards and that its barriers exceed minimum requirements.
It confirmed “there is no possibility of euthanasia” for Leona, who continues to be monitored.
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