A large lion which made a sudden appearance on a motorway and was approaching a service station Monday night was shot dead by the police, anhuinews.com reported Wednesday. [Photo from web]

A large lion which made a sudden appearance on a motorway and was approaching a service station Monday night was shot dead by the police, anhuinews.com reported Wednesday.

At around 22:00 on Monday, a truck driver hit a bulky shadow on the Nanjing-Bengbu Motorway in east China's Anhui province. To his shock, the driver stopped the truck and found that the shadow belonged to a big lion, who got hurt in its left leg and staggered away. The driver called the police.

The lion was 500 meters away from a service station when the police arrived. The police mobilized seven cars in an effort to escort the lion away. But the lion continued heading to the service station, and at around 23:40 it was less than 300 meters away from the service station.

In the absence of anaesthetic rifles, the police decided to shoot the beast to death. After firing more than 20 shots, the lion was dead. "We have to make sure the lion is dead. That's why we fired so many shots," a policeman said, "the lion will become more dangerous if it is shot but not dead."

The lion weighed about 200 kilograms and was female.

It is believed that the lion came from a circus troupe in Yongqiao, Suzhou city, Anhui province, said Zhang Yongheng, secretary general of Yongqiao Circus Association. Yongqiao is home to China's circus troupes and tigers and lions are commonly seen there.

The lion was in a cage on a truck before it bit open the cage and jumped onto the motorway.