When a lion pounces from behind you have half a second to watch your whole life roll before your eyes.

Attacked By A Lion

August 5, 2025 Journal No Comments

Somewhere I read that the Hebrew month of Av is associated with the lion. The 9th day of Av is a day of mourning because the Great Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed on this day. Hence a prophet was reminded of the destructive nature of angry lions.

Of course lions have more going on than just their vicious destructiveness when they get angry. But that’s a discussion for somewhere else. For now, the mention of lions as once roaming around in the land of Israel got me thinking about how I once narrowly escaped death when a lion attacked me. Buckle up.

When I was about 19 years old and a student at the University of Washington in Seattle, a friend of mine brought me to the University Television Station, and said I could work there as a volunteer. So I did.

The TV station was used as a training ground for Communications majors, maybe – I don’t know for sure. I never looked into the academic side of the station. I was just there for the fun of it.

The programming was mainly boring informational, semi-educational stuff. But they did have a weekly children’s show, and I got to work on it, never in front of the cameras, of course.

The name of the show was “Buttons and His Buddies.” The host of the show was a tall guy in his 30’s who kept his hair combed. Let’s call him Dave. He was a likeable person both on-camera and off-camera, and that made him a perfect host for the show.

The weekly guest was an animal expert from the zoo. Let’s call him Jack. Every week he brought a different animal or two or three, and he talked to Dave about the animals.

Jack also brought the star of the show every week. That was Buttons, a chimpanzee whose only job on the show was to be a chimpanzee.

We all loved the chimp, smelly as he was.

We all loved Buttons, smelly as he was, and no one ever blamed him for not being a little more ambitious. He’d grab our hands and jump up and down, before the show started. On camera, Buttons gave off a much more sophisticated vibration, being on a university campus and all.

So Buttons was Buttons and his buddies were the other animals that came with Jack. Now here’s something I’ll bet you never knew. Buttons never had anything to do with the other animals. I don’t know if he was a stuck-up star or if he was just shy. But they all did not seem like buddies to me.

One time, Jack brought in a big cage and opened it about 50 minutes before showtime. A six-foot lion cub walked out of that cage. Jack assured us the lion was used to being around people, being brought up in the zoo and all.

The Majestic Asiatic Lion is the symbol of the Tribe of Judah

Several of us pet the lion and made it feel welcome. The lion cub quickly singled me out as a playmate. He rolled on his back so I could rub his tummy and he could take a couple gentle swats at my hands. He rolled back up and we played a little dodge game that all dogs and cats instinctively know how to play.

We played like that for about ten minutes before I was called to help with a prop. The six-foot lion cub went off to explore the studio on his own. For awhile he seemed to just disappear, and we all forgot about him.

About 20 minutes before showtime, the set was ready, and I and a few other stage hands sat on the floor of the stage to watch the lighting crew set up the lights.

All was quiet and peaceful until suddenly I felt a giant paw slam down on my right shoulder. A second giant paw slammed down on my left shoulder. I could feel the lion’s breath on the right side of my face as he quickly thrust his open mouth toward my head.

When a stealthy lion pounces on you from behind you have all of half a second to realize what is happening and watch a review of your whole life run before your eyes. Fortunately I was only nineteen years old, and it didn’t take more than half a second for my whole life to play before my eyes.

Just before the end, I could feel the lion’s breath right up against my cheek. Startled and paralyzed with fright, I couldn’t move the whole last half-second of my life. Then, it felt like coarse sandpaper when the lion’s tongue met my cheek while he licked me.