Don’t kiss the lion: Montreal woman mauled at South African wildlife refuge

A Montreal woman who was working as a volunteer at a South African wildlife refuge is recovering after being mauled by two lions.

Lauren Fagen, 18, tells The Globe and Mail that she was cleaning a cage and leaned over to kiss a male lion when it attacked. A female lion joined in and she suffered injuries to her legs and feet. "I didn’t realize he could stick his paws through," Fagen told the Globe. "I should have died or lost a leg. It was a miracle that I survived. He could have ripped off my skin and I would have died of blood loss.”

Fagen, from Montreal, was volunteering at the Moholoholo rehabilitation centre when she was injured Monday, reports CBC News.

"This young lady sustained multiple bites to her legs and to her lower body," Robyn Baard, client services manager at Medi-Clinic Nelspruit, told CBC News. "I can’t go into too much detail about that, but she is certainly not in any critical condition."

Fagen is recovering in South Africa.