Man found dead following suspected lion attack while riding motorcycle

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Police in Kenya have found the body of a man who they believed was fatally attacked by a lion while riding a motorcycle. 

The grisly discovery was made on Monday after locals contacted authorities about an abandoned motorcycle along a road near the Shimba Hills National Reserve. 

Officers saw lion pawprints that led from the motorcycle to a thicket where they found the remains of an unknown dead man, The Associated Press reported, citing a police document. 

"After a short follow-up they found fresh human body parts of unknown male African adult suspected to have been mauled by a lion," Kenya’s Citizen TV quoted a police statement as saying. 

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A lion rests in a tree in Kenya's Lake Nakuru National Park in September 2010. On Monday, police in southern Kenya found a man dead following a suspected lion attack. (Reuters/Noor Khamis)

"Police officers from Kwale Police Station led by County Police Commander and KWS officers visited the scene.… The remains of the body have been collected and taken to Kwale sub-county hospital mortuary awaiting identification and postmortem," the statement added. 

The lion population was declining in Kenya just over a decade ago, primarily due to human-wildlife conflict. The government has listed lions as endangered, with an estimated population of 2,000 in 2010. A more recent survey put the number at 2,489. 

SLOVAK ZOOKEEPER FOUND DEAD IN ENCLOSURE AFTER APPARENT LION ATTACK 

A lion is seen at Nairobi's National Park in March 2013. (Reuters/Marko Djurica)

Last May, authorities in Slovakia launched an investigation after a zookeeper was found dead in an animal enclosure following another suspected lion attack. 

A lion walks through the grass on the plains of the Maasai Mara National Reserve in southern Kenya in August 2006. (Reuters/Barry Moody)

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Slovak TV channel Markiza said the owner of the small zoo in the town of Kysucke Nove Mesto was attacked by a lion while feeding the animal. The broadcaster said the man's relatives confirmed the information. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.