An intense day of work by Kruger National Park rangers‚ helicopter pilots and vets has resulted in four of the five lions that escaped on Monday were recaptured.

The lions were loose in thick bush next to the N14 near Komatipoort.

“It’s been a long day we started off with five lions that had gone astray and we have managed to recover four of them‚” SANParks spokesman Ike Phaahla told eNCA.

“All credit to the rangers‚ the vets and the helicopter pilots. Remember we are operating with just one helicopter in the morning‚” he said.

Families scream in horror as circus lion attacks tamer during showA lion locked its jaws around his tamer's throat and dragged him across the circus ring in front of horrified families midway through a live show in Doullens, northern France on Sunday afternoon. 

“The difficulty was that the bush was very think and the lions once they heard the sound of the helicopter would crouch and go deep into the bush.”

“We made a call just after lunch that a second helicopter would help so that of the other one is spotting the animals the other one should drive them out of the thicket‚” Phaahla said.

He said it was a race against time to capture the fifth lion before darkness fell.