Lion does as lions do on wildland. Save twice-runaway 3yo lion fr tragic fate of escaped 2yo zebra, chased on golf court for hrs

Editor’s note:
Lion does as lions do on their own wild land in nature. Sylvester the Lion, one of the 3500 remaining male lions, has lion’s spirit, courage and intelligence, amazingly escaped twice, recaptured. His fate is now in human hands.

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1 April 2016
Sylvester the lion has once again been recaptured

• Sylvester escaped a 90,000-hectares wildlife park in S Africa
• Rangers: he'd have to be killed because he was threat to humans
• But British charity has outlined plans to give him a new home

The lion, who had been fitted with a tracking collar after his last escape, was shot with a tranquilizer dart and repatriated to Karoo National Park, where a decision is soon be made on his fate. Sylvester slipped through a fence on Sunday, and rangers had suggested they would have to euthanise the animal as he kept running away from the park and is considered dangerous.

'The lion will be kept in the park in a boma (enclosure) until a final decision is reached on its future.' After Sylvester's last escape, SANParks announced they would have to put him down, but there is hope this can be avoided after a British charity vowed to house him. Animal welfare group Spots and Stripes Conservation offered to help rehome him while South African wildlife officials say they will re-assess their decision to kill the three-year-old lion.

The charity said on Facebook: 'Given the plight of the wild lion in Africa the thought of a prime virile and valuable wild male lion for future populations needlessly falling to the bullet is not just astounding but unbelievable.
Save Sylvester the Lion (one of the 3500 remaining male lions)

Lion King just can't be tamed. A South African lion named Sylvester was sentenced to die on Tuesday because park rangers were frustrated that it wouldn't stay in Karoo National Park. Despite wearing a tracking collar, Sylvester has escaped the park's fences twice in the past year. He was named "a damage-causing animal" that would be euthanized once caught.

Three new-born lion in line Three Asian lion cubs, born on January 25, 2016, stand next to their mother Lorena while being presented to the public at the Planckendael Park in Mechelen, Belgium

March 23, 2016
Escaped 2yo zebra killed on Japanese golf course TOKYO - - A zebra that was on the loose on a Japanese golf course for hours has died after it was chased around by a dozen men including police officers, likely drowning after being shot by tranquilizer dart and plunging into a lake. Police say the 2-year-old male zebra escaped late Tuesday from a horseback riding club. It had belonged to a farm in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan. By Wednesday morning, it had wandered onto a nearby golf course in Gifu Prefecture, with TV news footage showing it zipping from hole to hole.

People were chasing the animal around the golf course, some holding lassos, trying to capture it, but with little luck. The animal would let them get close, then would dash off when they tried to rein it in. It was shot with a tranquilizer dart, but then ran into a lake. "We pulled it out, but its heart had stopped," he said.

Playful zebra let pursuers get close, then dash off when they tried to rein it in (CNN) - Its bid for freedom was broadcast on national TV and became a sensation on social media, but it ended up in tragedy. A zebra that escaped by running away from a horse-riding club in Japan led police officers and veterinarians in an hours-long pursuit on a golf course, foiling any capture attempt. But unable to corral it, veterinarians shot the two-year old animal with tranquilizer darts. Shortly after that, the zebra ran into a pond, where it met a tragic end. The cause of death is unclear. "It collapsed in the pond, so we hurriedly pulled it ashore, but its heart had already stopped beating," Takahiro Taniguchi, a police spokesman, said, according to Agence France-Press.
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Photo courtesy Twitter / SANParks, AP, Alamy, Reuters / Yves Herman, Naoya Osato / Kyodo News via AP, CBS News, and TBS