A two-year-old boy had a “close” encounter with a lion at the Chiba Zoological Park in Japan, east of Tokyo.
In an amateur video shot this week, the boy and the lion have a staring contest. The lion looks calm in the enclosure and rests himself on his stomach.
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But when the boy turns around, the lion runs towards him and tries to jump on him. The lion then hits the glass wall that separates the animal from human visitors.
The incident comes after the outrage sparked by the death of Harambe the gorilla at the Cincinnati zoo when a boy fell into his enclosure.
It sparked debate on whether or not animals should be kept captive.
But zookeepers at the Chiba zoo say the lion, which weighs more than 400 lbs, has a tendency of getting agitated around small children because he wants to play with them.
The zoo set up the glass display last April to allow visitors to get a closer look at the lions.
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