Video shows already injured trainer being pounced on by lions after prodding one with a rod WARNING: Video contains graphic images

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

The shocking moments when several lions attacked their trainers at a Ukraine circus have been caught on camera and posted on the internet.

In scenes reminiscent more of a gladiatorial contest than a circus, lion tamer Oleksie Pinko is shown attempting to keep a lion at a distance, using a rod, in an arena in the city of Lviv.

At the start of the video Pinko is already visibly limping, having already been attacked by a lion, but as he continues to jab the animal, it lunges.

A voice from the crowd appears to reassure another as the audience grows increasingly concerned, moments before the lion attacks again and is joined by another of the five adult males.

Amid loud screams from the audience and roars from the lions, three other animal trainers then attempt to put off the animals with rods.

But as the scenes continue, the trainers are rounded up by the lions while two further trainers outside the arena attempt to stop the fight, one with water cannon.

By the end of the video most of the audience, who were only divided from the lions with a mesh fence, have cleared the building.

Doug Shepherd, an American tourist who had taken his two children to the circus, told CBS News: "Kids are screaming, and kids are only 10 feet away, and [my family was] probably 35 feet away."

He said Pinko, who was taken to a local hospital for emergency surgery, had been bitten on the arm and knocked to the ground.

Doug Shepherd's wife, Masha, said she grabbed her daughter and started to run for fear the lions would escape from the ring.

Shepherd said he has seen "great performances" at traditional circuses but would have a hard time convincing his family to go again.

Pinko is reported to have been in a stable condition after the attack.

One person who posted the video on YouTube wrote: '"Be sure never to poke a lion with a stick."