Mauled girl 'doing well'

2008-09-29 16:04

Johannesburg - An eight-year-old girl mauled by lions on her family's farm in Zimbabwe is "doing very well" in the Netcare Milpark Hospital, in Johannesburg, a spokesperson said on Monday.

Courtney Sparrow was "chatting with soft toys on her bed" said hospital spokesperson Amelda Swartz.

She said Sparrow was moved from the hospital's intensive care unit to a general ward in the hospital on Sunday afternoon.

The young girl had undergone 10 hours of extensive surgery since she was admitted on September 17, said Swartz.

According to Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Rapport her parents Margaret and Ron Sparrow used two young lions to protect the family from land invaders on their farm in Masvingo.

Sparrow, who breeds lions, told the newspaper the farm had been attacked by war veterans four times in the past three months, once when his wife was alone at home with Courtney and her six-year-old sister Savannah.

However, one of the animals jumped through an open window into their farmhouse and dragged Courtney outside.

A domestic worker tried to pull Courtney away, to no avail. A farmworker then hit the feline with a stick until it let go of her, but when Courtney tried to run away she was caught by the other lion. The farmworker also scared it off.

By then, though, Courtney had sustained serious head and arm wounds and a punctured gullet.

- SAPA