Christian throws himself to the lions

These were the dramatic scenes when a man jumped into a lions' den - in an attempt to "convert" two of the animals to Christianity.

The man leapt over a fence at Taipei zoo in Taiwan and ran towards the animals shouting: "Jesus will save you!"

When the pair, a lion and lioness, failed to respond to his taunts, he continued goading them, shouting: "Come bite me!"

Seconds later the lion attacked the man, named as mental patient Chen Chung-ho, mauling his right arm and ripping his clothes to shreds. But in a miraculous turn of events, he escaped with only minor injuries to his right arm and leg after zoo keepers drove off the lion with water hoses and tranquilliser guns.

They later said he had survived only because the animals had just been fed.

It is thought the man may have been suffering from delusions that he was living out the biblical story of Daniel in the lion's den.