Two lions at the Leipzig Zoo in Germany escaped their enclosure Thursday, which resulted in one lion being killed. One-year-old lions Majo and Motshegetsi got out of their enclosure and jumped a moat before the zoo officially opened for the day. The pair made their way to the main zoo grounds where they were discovered cowering under some brush. Zoo keepers were able to surround them and get Majo safely back to the enclosure. Unfortunately, Motshegetsi became agitated after a tranquilizer failed to subdue the animal, and zoo keepers realized the situation was getting out of their control. That’s when they decided the only option was to shoot and kill the lion. In statements to Telegraph, officials say human safety was their number one priority, and they needed to prevent the lion from leaving the zoo area. 
Majo and Motshegetsi were new to the Leipzig Zoo, having arrived the month prior from the Basel Zoo in Switzerland. The pair originated in Namibia before being transported to Europe. Their escape marks the eighth such instance at German zoos in the last four years, highlighting the debate of whether big cats should even be housed in zoos. However, it was the first time lions escaped their enclosure at Leipzig Zoo since 1913, according to the BBC. Leipzig Zoo officials said the lion enclosure has been used for the past 15 years, and they had no reason to question its safety. While they may have assumed the lion enclosure to be secure, last year a tiger was killed at the zoo after a partition separating it from another tiger was accidentally removed. Both of these instances raise questions about the safety and ethical concerns over keeping large cats in zoos.