Kenya: Escaped lion mauls man on streets of Nairobi

A man has been injured after a lion attacked him on the streets of the Kenyan capital Nairobi. The large, dark-maned male lion, named Cheru, had strayed from the city's national wildlife reserve into rush hour traffic on Mombasa Road.

He become agitated by the cars and the crowds of people around him trying to take selfies, and swiped a 63-year-old man.

Describing the scene Kenya Wildlife Service spokesman Paul Udoto said: "People were there, hooting their horns, taking selfies and all that and the lion got agitated."

The man was "clawed in two areas - on the front of the chest and on the back of the shoulder", said Victor Ng'ani, the director of Mater Hospital. "He sustained lacerations, quite deep cuts in the left shoulder region and has sustained a small fracture in one of the bones in the area." The 63-year-old is in hospital in a stable condition, Sky News reports.

The animal wandered close to The Star printing press where plumber Wellington Lwenya, came face-to-face with the lion, describing it as "terrifying."

Later in the morning, the lion was coaxed back to the park by rangers who encouraged him to move deeper into the reserve. Mr Udoto said there were still teams of rangers on the ground "in case there are any others around that have not been spotted".

It is the third time in a month that lions have caused panic after wandering outside the boundary of the city's national park. In February, two lions roamed through the city slum of Kibera before returning to the park. The park, which also has endangered black rhinos, lions, leopards, cheetahs and giraffes is not completely fenced, to allow animals to migrate in search of grazing.

Some Nairobi residents are increasingly concerned by the growing number of such incidents. Michael Kimani, a local resident who saw the escaped lion said: "We are worried for our lives."

An eyewitness vidoed the lion wandering through the streets.