TOURISTS driving around one of South Africa’s top national parks were left horrified after they discovered a dying lion with a snare around its neck.

    The injured young male was found staggering across the road by holidaymakers Meliska Viljoen and Meike Pettit, who immediately flashed the news to Kruger National Park’s officials.

    Within hours, the road was blocked to tourists and veterinarians set off to locate the lion.

    Viljoen posted graphic pictures of the injured lion to the SANParks — Kruger National Park group on Facebook, triggering a heated reaction among users.

    She wrote that her safari group “found the lion in the road clearly asking for help,” adding that she attempted to summon help for the lion without avail.

    Injured lion can easily die from infection or be killed by packs of hyena, but this particular big cat can consider itself lucky as vets managed to remove the device after working round-the-clock to save him.

    At one point, the experts thought they might have to put the animal down because the snare had pierced one of its eyes.

    But eventually the good news was posted to Facebook by the Wildheart Wildlife Foundation. “All went well. The lion is now awake and will be monitored.”

    He later returned into the wild.

    Lions have soft skin and as they follow along game trails in national parks in search of prey, they are susceptible of getting caught in the traps.

    Park rangers believe hunters may have laid the snare in the hope of catching smaller animals for food.(SD-Agencies)