VIRAL: Japan zoo lion caught trying to pounce at 2-year-old boy from other side of glass panel [VIDEO]

In June 2015, a lioness at the Lion Park in South Africa bit and killed Katherine Chappell, an American tourist, which was almost an unavoidable accident because it was an open park. A two-year-old boy visitor at the Chiba Zoological Park in Japan could have suffered the same fate as Chappell were it not for a glass panel separating the lion from park goers.

The incident was filmed and post on YouTube, becoming viral with close to 2.5 million hits in two days. Zoo animal attacks on visitors, after what happened to the boy who fell in Harambe’s enclosure in the Cincinnati Zoo, is still a hot topic more than a week after the gorilla incident.

The video opens with the child staring at the 180-pound lion which was just sitting from a distance watching his young visitor – or was it sizing up his next meal? The minute the boy turned his back, the lion pounced. Fortunately, a thick glass panel separated the two.

The sound of the lion’s crash on the glass panel was a loud thud which startled the young visitor that he lost his balance, reports Mashable. The video triggered a debate among netizens if the lion was attempting to attack or was just being playful.

Chiba Zoological Park zookeepers insist the lion did not mean to harm the boy and only wanted to play with the visitor, reports The Metro. But Adam Roberts, chief executive of Born Free USA, believes otherwise. “Lions are natural wild predators and the child in this video, especially when turning his back to the massive feline, becomes prey in the animal’s eyes,” Stuff.co.nz quotes the CEO of the non-profit national animal advocacy group.

He adds, “If the barrier had not held, the consequences could have been catastrophic.” It would then trigger another debate on the need for zoos and parent’s responsibility when visiting places with animals similar to the Harambe incident.

VIDEO: Lion at Japan zoo tries to paw Boy through Glass