The man almost has his arm torn off by a lioness while he was trying to pet him in South Africa

An unlucky tourist was almost broken arm by a lioness after pbading between the bars of her cage and attempting to kick her.

Pieter Nortje, 55, was on a guided tour of lions at a playground in South Africa to celebrate his tenth wedding anniversary, when he had almost lost his arm.

The shocking incident was filmed by his wife Ilze in Virginia, in the Free State province, before being broadcast online.

We first see him stroking the back of an adult man and tickling him behind his ear as he rushes to his wife: "If you bite me, then I'll bite you."

A young lioness approaches the fence of the Tikwe River Lodge, while Pieter lets his arm weave dangerously in the air and says: "Come here my heart, let dad caress you."

The lioness then pushes her teeth into her right forearm, penetrates to the bone and drags her toward the fence.

We can hear Ilze shouting, "He's biting him, he's biting him!"

The lioness keeps her arm for five seconds, hitting it with the claws of her left paw, before releasing it.

The cries of panic from those watching distracted the lioness long enough for Pieter to pull his bloody arm from the other side of the wire.

Netwerk24 reported that Mr. Nortje was found at Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein in a serious condition and had suffered septic shock.

Septic shock is a fatal disease caused by a serious infection with a mortality rate of between 25 and 50%.

A spokesman for Tikwe River Lodge, which has 30 pavilions overlooking the Sand River, said it had been planning visits to the lion's compound for six years without any incident.

They denied any responsibility for the culprit and said, "There are warning signs everywhere.

"Nortje ran his hand through the electric fence to touch the lions and was bitten".

A South African gamekeeper at another park who viewed the video said, "The man was lucky that the lioness was probably not hungry nor used to killing prey living outside, in nature.

"Lions are beasts of burden and hunt as a team so that other people in the compound can easily join and if they did. [they would have] killed him there was a fence between them or not.

"Some people never learn that when it's wildlife, keep a distance between them and you."

Mr. Nortje, who works as a mechanic at SA Truck Bodies in Bloemfontein, and his wife, receptionist, were unavailable to comment, just like a friend who had joined them for the weekend.

In May of last year, Mike Hodge, 72, owner of the Marakele Predator Center in Thabazimbi, just north of Johannesburg, was attacked by a lion when he entered his compound.

Born in Britain, Mr. Hodge was badly wounded and only rescued when the lion, named Shamba, was shot by a guard after dragging Mr. Hodge into the undergrowth where he had savaged her. .

The man of the married family was rushed by air ambulance to the hospital for a rescue operation which resulted in injuries to his neck, chest and back, but he is now back in his lodge.

In February of last year, a 22-year-old woman was attacked and murdered by a lion in the Dinokeng Reserve in Hammanskraal after going out to take pictures of wildlife.