Circus lion shot dead by Anhui police on Chinese motorway after jumping from a lorry

• WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES 
• Police fired 20 shots towards lioness on September 7 in Anhui, China
• Animal had already been injured and was travelling towards service station
• Officers were unable to find a tranquiliser gun and decided to shoot her
• Local circus has confirmed that the lioness escaped from locked cage 

A lioness was shot dead by police on a motorway in Anhui, eastern China, this week.

The animal is thought to have escaped from her cage and jumped off from the lorry of a local circus, in the evening of September 7.

She had been involved in an accident while roaming the motorway, but appeared fit enough to be travelling towards a service station at speed.

Local police were worried about a lion attack but as they couldn't find their tranquiliser gun, they decided to shoot to kill, reported People's Daily Online. 

Lioness (above) was shot dead by police on a motorway in Anhui, eastern China, in the evening of September 7

She was approaching a service station and the police didn't have a tranquiliser gun so fired 20 shots at her

Local circus has confirmed that the lioness escaped through a locked cage by ripping through its metal bars

An unnamed motorist was the first to encounter the lioness. 

According to reports, the five-foot long lioness leapt onto the motorway from the leafy undergrowth next to the road at about 9pm local time.

The driver couldn't stop in time and hit the lioness.

When the driver realised that it was lioness, he sped off and called the police from the next service station. 

After the police arrived at the scene, they saw that the lioness was crouched on the ground and still alive.

Animal was involved in a car accident, which was when she was first spotted on the motorway by motorists

A police officer said: 'We had weapons with us but we didn't want to kill it as it's a lion.

'However, it was walking and stopping along the motorway. The service station was just ahead.'

Additional police were drafted in to chaperon the lioness as it moved along the road but they didn't have a tranquiliser gun with them. 

When the lioness was less than 1,000 feet from the service station, police decided that they couldn't wait any more.

They fired 20 shots into the 200kg (31.5 stone) animal to ensure that it was dead.

Police managed to track down the animal's circus owners who revealed that the animal was being transported in the last cage on a lorry.

The animal was in heat, which increased her aggression and helped her to rip through her metal cage. 

Police are still investigating the incident.

 Feline was said to be five foot long and weighed around 200kg. It was fully grown and particularly aggressive