A lion attacks the Tamer program during a performance in Ukraine

A circus tamer swept the moment a lion licked it to the ground and stuck his teeth in his arm to yell and gasp at the audience.

A circus video footage in Ukraine on March 23 shows coach Hamada Kouta struggling to regain control of the lion after he has become aggressive.

Finally, the bloody Kouta gets up and brings the lion back to his cage before calming the audience and continuing the show.

Kouta subsequently refused to blame the animal, explaining to Louga 24, the local television channel in the city of Louga where the circus was held, that the lions were his "children" and that the fault was the his.

The pictures show Kouta with deep scratches and gouge marks on the arms and shoulders.

"I called a lion and the second m attacked from the front," he said. "I stopped him in the middle of the ring and I calmed him down, but he refused to return to his sitting position. I stepped back, there was a position behind me, I hit her and I fell. "

"The lion jumped on me and bit me – but thank God, not for my neck."

"My back, my arm and my leg were injured. Scars from two claws and a tooth are on my leg, teeth marks on my arm, one 4 cm deep from three claws on my back. "

Kouta told the local media that he had tried to resume the performance to help calm the children, who could be heard screaming when the lion pinned him to the ground.

"I remembered them calmly, because there were children in the audience," he said, according to Louga 24. "The most important thing for me is to see children in the audience."

"Of course, I was covered in blood, but I asked everyone to calm down and I restarted the performance from the beginning."

According to the Evening Standard, a mother who was watching with her two children said, "My heart stopped when the lion jumped against the coach."

Kouta said the lions were disturbed because they had been forced to perform shortly after arriving at a new location. Normally, they have 3 days to settle.

"They did not have time to adapt because we arrived and immediately started playing," he said.

"They were stressed, so that led to the attack."

"They can be sullen, like people"

He said that good coaches must be sensitive to the animals' mood.

"They can be in a bad mood, like people. For example, you can wake up in the morning in a bad mood. That's all, the whole day will be like that. They are just the same. "

But for Kouta, scratches and scars are part of the job description.

"I even have 72 stitches on my stomach," he said, according to CIXD. "Every scar is for me an experience. Because when such attacks occur, it can not be repeated. "

Despite the attack, Kuta has not lost confidence in the lions he calls his children.

"But there is a red line, if you go, it can go the wrong way."

"When there are attacks against coaches, 99% are the coach's fault.For example, this attack was my mistake because I missed the moment.

Other incidents of circus animals attacking their masters resulted in a tragedy.

An animal was killed by a tiger that he helped raise in China on March 11th.

The incident was filmed by horrified spectators at the Fuzhou Zoo in Fujian Province.

According to local media, the man, identified only as Wu, was with the tiger in a fenced training yard when the animal suddenly collapsed. The cat "bit the man and choke him".

Wu had raised the tiger since it was a small one and he was "normally quite docile" after a long period of domestication.

Disturbing images taken by witnesses show the animal seeming to tarnish the driver who is on the ground, while the audience screams desperately in the background. A staff member is seen trying to chase the animal with a metal pole.