Last week, a man found himself locked in the lion enclosure at Belfast Zoo in Ireland after his colleague closed the door. An investigation has been initiated.

Ireland's Belfast City Council has launched an investigation this Thursday, August 15, after an employee of the city zoo was locked in an enclosure with lions, an Irish newspaper reports. Belfast Telegram.

The incident happened last week after two zoo staff entered the cats' enclosure. One of them locked his colleague behind him and left the site.

“We take the safety of all our staff, visitors and animals very seriously,” a city council spokeswoman and zoo owner told the Belfast Telegram.

“They were very lucky.”

Locked Man is part of an Irish training program for unemployed people aged 50 to 64 returning to work. While it is currently unknown how long the employee was locked up, the Irish newspaper did not provide information on his medical condition.

“They are very lucky not to have been killed or…suffered horrendous injuries,” an anonymous source told the Belfast Telegram.

“I can only imagine what's going through that poor guy's head. I mean, how could this happen?” A spokesman for the city council told local media that no information could be provided until the circumstances of the incident were clarified.

Belfast Zoo is home to a pride of Barbary lions, once native to North Africa and now extinct in the wild. These big cats can measure up to one meter tall and three and a half meters long. Their average weight can be up to 230 kg.

The deputy leader of the Ulster Irish Unionist Party said the incident “also raises concerns about animal welfare” at Belfast Zoo.