‘Europe’s Joe Exotic’ ripped apart and eaten by his own lions at feeding time after keeping them in filthy zoo
THE owner of a zoo has been mauled to death by lions at feeding time with cops only able to find parts of his body left at the scene.
Jozef B, 56 - known as Europe's Joe Exotic - was killed on Tuesday after attempting to feed the beasts at the small zoo in Oskerda, Slovakia.
Jozef had a permit to breed the wild animals, but it had expired in 2019 and was not renewed before he died.
A local named only as Peter said: "He was very arrogant, he didn't know how to behave, he abused the animals and they had very bad conditions."
And just a few years ago in 2019, a 29-year-old woman was injured when petting a tiger at the zoo.
Jozef said at the time "We continue to operate and no one is at risk here."
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Local cops killed two of the lions after discovering human body parts belonging to Josef, who owned the park.
Authorities are now considering euthanising all of the lions and tigers at the zoo, which was slammed as an "unsuitable environment" for the beasts.
Slovakian authorities said the last inspection at the zoo was in 2021 and the now-deceased owner was fined €2,000 (£1,470) at the time for unclear reasons.
He also reportedly had repeated run-ins with the law and animal rights organizations dating back to 2017.
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Authorities are now debating whether to put down a further 16 lions and tigers at the zoo in Kysucke Nove Mesto.
Cops said they were alerted by Jozef's family when he did not return from feeding them, which he did regularly.
One woman told local media "We used to come here regularly. I saw with my own eyes how he went to the cage and fed the lions.
"I always asked him if he was afraid, and he just said that he had been feeding them since they were babies".
