A Montreal teenager is recovering in hospital after being attacked by a lion while in Pretoria, South Africa.

The attack happened at the Moholoholo animal rehabilitation centre for orphaned and injured wild animals, where the teenager began volunteering only two weeks ago.

Eighteen-year-old Lauren Fagen was walking next to the cage for a five-year-old male lion when he stuck his paws between the bars and grappled her.

"My leg was through the bars into his enclosure... and I was in the feeding cage. He started biting my leg and scratching it, and I tried to push back with my other leg but somehow... he had both my legs up to my upper thigh inside the enclosure. The bars are quite close together so I couldn't pull them out because at my knee it got stuck, and i could see him biting me and I thought I was going to lose both my legs," she said.

The duties of volunteers include cleaning the feeding cages of the animals. The lion was not in the cage at the time. He was put into an enclosure, but that enclosure was attached to the feeding cage.

Fagen said she remembers the male lion being quite affectionate with her and in a very good mood. A few minutes later, she noticed the lion was at the door to the feeding cage, and that's when he grabbed the bottom of her leg and tried to pull her through the bars.



A female lion approached and also began mauling her legs as well.

The teenager said that's when she was certain she was going to die.



Other volunteers at the centre heard Fagen's screams and ran to her rescue, feanding off the lions with brooms.

She was rushed to a hospital and treated for multiple lacerations to her legs and abdomen, but she is expected to make a full recovery.



She said she's actually feeling quite well right now, but she is on pain killers.



Fagen said she’s hoping that centre changes procedures or makes the enclosures safer for the volunteers.

She doesn't seem to hold any resentment towards the centre or the lions and is expecting to be released from hospital next Monday.

A full recovery will take several weeks.

A video of the lions at the Moholoholo rehabilitation centre near Pretoria, South Africa: