Tragedy strikes Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage Zimbabwe


02 June at 06:40



There has been a very tragic accident at Chipangali in Zimbabwe yesterday. At approximately 20 past 9 yesterday morning, our young volunteer co-ordinator / helper Robyn Lotz (26 years old) was attacked by a fully grown male lion. One of our staff neglected to close a gate behind him and then released our lion into that cage which he had just been in.The lion pushed the gate open and went through another small gate that they were using to get grass into his cage and unfortunately Robyn was right there along with at least 2 other staff members close by. The lion grabbed her by the back of her head, and although it was only minutes before Kevin came with a gun, to those involved it felt like hours. Kevin had to wait seconds before he got a clear shot, and he managed to shoot the lion off of her. we rushed her to hospital but although the staff at Mater Dei hospital tried every thing they could she died just after 10:00am. This is the first accident of this kind that we have had here at Chipangali

Sad news indeed. My sincere condolences & prayers to the family & colleagues.

Very said indeed. My sincerest condolences to her family. Wild animals are indeed wild, whether in a cage, behind a fence or free roaming.

My condolences to her family. We visited Chipangali just about a year ago with some of our family. It is a great place and they do wonderful work with rescued animals. At that time they had just lost 3 Rhino's to "poachers". Chipangali is terribly underfunded, their only source of income is donations, ie. no corporate sponsorship or public funds. Anyone passing through Bulawayo should try to make time and spend a couple hours at Chipangali, it is a great experience and they can really use the donations.