A performing lion from a Chinese circus has bitten the arm off a 10-year-old boy.

The unnamed child was standing near a cage at Wanfota Park in Mengcheng, eastern China, on Saturday when the big cat reached through the iron bars, grabbed and bit him.

Park staff managed to pull the schoolboy from the paws of the lion but his left arm had already been torn off.

The boy was rushed to the nearby Number One People's Hospital, where doctors operated on him.

Police are investigating the attack and officers have already suggested that bars on the cage were too widely spaced - allowing the powerful animal to reach the unfortunate visitor.

Earlier this month, another Chinese wild animal keeper was forced to pay more than £10,000 in compensation after his crocodiles ate a nine-year-old schoolboy.

The man, who staged reptile shows, was found guilty of mismanagement after four children climbed into the animal enclosure in a park in the southern Guangxi region.

The schoolchildren scaled a fence to taunt a nest of crocodiles with catapults and wooden sticks. The victim was then dragged into the water by one of the crocodiles and eaten.

Big cat attacks on humans are rare, but even the world’s most famous trainers became victims five years ago.

Siegfried and Roy were known all over the globe for taming tigers until, in October 2003, one of their star performers bit into the skull of Roy Horn to leave him suffering from a stroke and partial paralysis.

Times Recommends

• LA profits from Michael Jackson stimulus
• Berlusconi's absent wife causes G8 headache
• Chimps that took a punishing step for Man