Woman shocked when she sees a lion while walking her dog in Ontario
CTV
A woman who visited Ontario last week said she was walking her dog at night when she came face-to-face with a lion through a chain-link fence — an encounter animal advocates pin on the lack of exotic animal legislation governing roadside zoos in the province.
A woman who visited Ontario last week said she was walking her dog at night when she came face-to-face with a lion through a chain-link fence — an encounter animal advocates pin on the lack of exotic animal legislation governing roadside zoos in the province.
At first, Quebec woman Patricia Lapetite thought she saw a big dog in a fenced-in yard, but as she strolled by with her speckled dog in the dark, she started to see the animal more clearly.
“I saw the lion in a yard about 30 feet from the road,” she told CTV News Toronto.
Her dog Abby began barking as the two animals bolted parallel to one another, separated by a snowbank and a fence, as seen in a video Lapetite posted on social media on March 8.
Lapetite later learned she had stumbled upon Jungle Cat World, what animal rights experts call a roadside zoo, located in Clarington, Ont., about 100 km east of downtown Toronto.
Lions, tigers, jaguars, hyenas and leopards live at the wildlife centre, which has been open since 1983, according to its website. The park also offers a safari getaway where visitors can “fall asleep to the roar of the lions and howling of the wolves” at an on-site bed-and-breakfast.
The lion’s enclosure is perched next to Concession Road across the street from a gas station and local restaurant, and down the road from residential houses. CTV News Toronto visited the area on Monday and could see the lion in its enclosure from the road.
