A 19-year-old man was mauled to death by a lioness after climbing into her enclosure at a zoo in Brazil on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in an incident that has raised questions about mental health care and institutional failures.
Gerson de Melo Machado scaled a 20-foot wall at the Arruda Camara Zoobotanical Park in Joao Pessoa, Paraiba, Brazil, and descended a tree into the enclosure while horrified visitors watched. Video captured by zoo patrons shows the lioness, named Leona, pacing beneath the tree before attacking Machado as he neared the ground.
Security teams at the zoo attempted to stop Machado, but he moved too quickly for them to intervene. The incident unfolded rapidly in front of multiple witnesses who recorded the attack on their mobile devices. The footage shows Machado briefly reappearing after the initial attack before being pulled down again by the lioness.
Machado had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had been institutionalized multiple times throughout his life. He had received assistance from child welfare services for eight years, according to Veronica Oliveira, a child welfare counselor who had worked with him.
“He was 19 years old, but when he spoke, I believe his cognitive capacity was no more than that of a 5-year-old,” Oliveira said in an interview. She added that he had “immense fragility in his mental health” and should have been in treatment.
The teenager had long dreamed of becoming a lion tamer, Oliveira said. In pursuit of this ambition, he had previously hidden in the landing gear of a plane, believing it would take him to Africa where he could work with lions. That attempt was discovered before the aircraft departed, and he was referred to child protective services.
Machado’s family background was marked by poverty and mental illness. His mother had also been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and the family lived in extreme poverty. While four of his siblings were adopted, Machado was not taken in by another family. He had recently been released from prison and had sought Oliveira’s help with finding employment just a week before his death.
Oliveira described the incident as the culmination of systemic failures. “Gerson is the result of a system that always excluded him, he had been caged for years,” she said.
Authorities investigating the incident indicated that Machado’s actions may have been a suicide attempt. The civil police forensics team has not ruled out this possibility as they continue their investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.
Following the attack, the zoo announced it would remain closed until investigations and official procedures were completed. In a statement posted to social media, park officials expressed solidarity with Machado’s family and confirmed they were cooperating fully with authorities.
The zoo has made clear that Leona will not be euthanized. Park veterinarian Thiago Nery emphasized that the enclosure has more than eight meters of protection and defended the facility’s safety standards, calling the incident “completely unforeseeable” and outside any normal park scenario.
In a statement, the zoo said Leona is healthy and does not exhibit aggressive behavior outside the context of the incident. The lioness experienced a high stress level following the attack and remains under monitoring and observation. Veterinarians, handlers and technicians are providing specialized care to ensure she recovers and stabilizes emotionally before resuming her normal routine.
The park emphasized that behavioral assessment and continuous monitoring are standard protocol in situations like this, rather than euthanasia. Officials stated that the lioness was immediately evaluated by the technical team after the incident and continues to receive all necessary care.
Zoo enclosures are designed with multiple layers of security to prevent exactly this type of incident. The Arruda Camara Zoobotanical Park, like most modern zoological facilities, maintains strict safety protocols for both visitors and animals. The barriers are intended to be insurmountable under normal circumstances, making Machado’s breach of the enclosure all the more unusual.
Mental health advocates have pointed to this case as an example of gaps in psychiatric care and institutional support. The combination of diagnosed mental illness, poverty, and lack of consistent treatment created conditions where vulnerable individuals can fall through the cracks of social services systems.
The investigation into the incident remains ongoing, with local authorities working to understand the full circumstances that led to Machado entering the enclosure. The zoo has pledged full cooperation with investigators while maintaining that all proper safety measures were in place at the time of the incident.