Zookeeper films himself being e@ten @live by lions after he went onto cage to impress his girlfriend (video)

A startling video captures the moment a zookeeper enters a lion's cage to "impress his girlfriend" and is fatally attacked and devoured by the animals. 

The zookeeper, identified as 44-year-old F. Iriskulov, filmed himself approaching the lions' cage prior to being mauled. 

At 5 a.m. on December 17, while working the night shift at a private zoo in Parkent, Uzbekistan, the video captures him opening a padlock on the enclosure. 

Initially, the three lions sit calmly in the far corner of the enclosure, giving the impression that they are inactive. The man backs off in obvious surprise as the beast suddenly leaps to life, and then the creatures slowly approach him. 

He repeatedly mentions one of the lions' names, "Simba," before ordering the animal to keep quiet. 

Despite being surrounded by lions, he confidently flips the camera to reveal his face, as if he were recording the video to send to his fiancée. When one of the animals approaches him, the keeper strokes it, indicating that they are acquainted. 

However, the lion licks its lips as soon as he touches the animal's mane and the man briefly turns to face the metal gate. 

The footage then takes a terrifying turn, with one of the lions attacking the unsuspecting keeper just two minutes after he unlocked the door and went inside the cage. 

With his camera still going, he shouts loudly as the creatures overwhelm him. 

The video cuts to black, but the eerie sound of his screams reverberates as he keeps pleading, "Be quiet, be quiet." 

The video then cuts, but the guard is said to have been eaten by the lions. 

The animals "tore the skin off the guard's face," the Russian authorities said. 

After the deadly attack, rescuers shot the third lion dead and tranquilized the other two. 

"The lions k!lled him and partially consumed his body," according to an official statement. 

It was disclosed that it took four hours for other zoo employees to discover the man's remains. What little remained of the man's bloodied body is depicted in horrifying pictures. 

At the time, it was reported that the three African lions had mauled the victim after their cage had been accidentally left open, allowing the animals to escape and enter the courtyard outside. Authorities checked and secured the enclosures of all the animals as part of their investigation into the grisly incident.

"As a result of the measures taken, the lions were returned to a special cage. No other people in the vicinity were harmed. There is currently no danger to the local population," the Department of Internal Affairs said in a statement.

Watch the video below.