Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:00 A mentally unstable man is face to face with two deadly predators.
00:15 His name, Zhang Hochen.
00:17 The 46-year-old was addicted to amphetamines, abusing alcohol, and hearing voices in his
00:23 head when he climbed into the lion's den at the Taipei, Taiwan Zoo.
00:28 I saw someone jump into the den.
00:32 I said, "This is amazing."
00:37 Zhang takes off his jacket, waves it like a matador.
00:43 Then it happens.
00:47 That lion comes up and just knocks it out of his hand, and you see how the person reacts
00:51 and kind of shrinks back.
00:54 Scott Lope runs Florida's Big Cat Rescue.
00:57 He knows the damage these carnivores can do.
01:02 They have these huge canines that they stab their prey with and easily penetrate through
01:07 thick, high.
01:08 They can even take down an elephant.
01:10 Incredibly, after the first attack, Chen makes no attempt to escape, and the 300-pound male
01:16 strikes again.
01:27 Hochen has been bitten and mauled, but he's so out of it, he still doesn't try to get
01:33 away, and this king of the jungle wants another piece of him.
01:38 I was a bit shocked.
01:43 We were all appalled as to why someone would jump in there.
01:47 Everyone was nervous, because anything could happen at any time.
01:52 Officials decide to tranquilize the big cats, but it's not just the lions that worry them.
01:58 We were worried that the man would charge at the lions.
02:03 We communicated with the zoo director, and we discussed whether or not we needed to tranquilize
02:10 the man.
02:13 But they don't have the proper dosage for humans.
02:16 Instead, they'll try to keep the predators away with a high-pressure hose.
02:22 The zoo's chief vet aims his dart gun.
02:25 Then he fires.
02:30 When the lion was shot, at the first moment, he jumped up and started to roar.
02:37 But two of the other shooters missed their marks.
02:40 Fearful Chen's running out of time before a fatal attack.
02:43 They resort to the fire hose, and it's up to the men with the blow guns to bring the
02:48 cats down.
02:50 Right here, a dart from a blow gun hits the big male.
02:54 He runs out of sight, right into his cage.
02:58 But the female is still a threat.
03:02 Suddenly she makes a move that frightens everyone.
03:07 She charges right at Chen.
03:13 But the high-pressure fire hose scares her off.
03:17 Finally, cops see an opportunity.
03:21 They beg Chen to come out.
03:24 It's a tense negotiation, but Chen heeds their pleas.
03:30 And he limps toward the service entrance and safety.
03:35 The lions are unharmed and sleep off the tranquilizer.
03:39 But Chen has severe gashes and serious bite wounds.
03:43 I was on drugs and drinking excessively every day.
03:47 And if you ask me what I was thinking, I would say I was thinking things that weren't realistic.
03:53 I didn't know what I was thinking.
03:55 Chen spent a month in a psychiatric hospital where caregivers not only tended to his wounds,
04:00 they got him off the drugs.
04:03 It was the beginning of a whole new life.
04:05 These days he's clean and sober, grateful for his friends and for people he didn't know
04:11 who rescued him from the lion's den.
04:14 (laser blasts)