Tourist mauled to death by lion was Game of Thrones editor
A TOURIST mauled to death by a lion while on safari was a film editor who had worked on the hit TV series Game of Thrones, it emerged yesterday.
Katherine Chappell, a 29year- old American who was visiting South Africa to raise money for a wildlife charity, died after the animal reportedly jumped through her open car window.
Her tour guide Pierre Potgieter, 66, suffered a heart attack trying to fend off the female lion and was taken to hospital.
It was claimed Miss Chappell, who was sitting in the passenger seat, had been trying to take a picture when the beast lunged.
Mr Potgieter’s wife Corlien said yesterday that the attack, which happened at the popular Lion Park just outside Johannesburg, was the ‘worst experience of his life’.
Speaking from her home in Melville, the suburb of the city where Miss Chappell had been staying at a guest house, she said: ‘The cardiologist said my husband must have had a heart attack as he was fending off the lion, or just after.
‘His wounds are clean and there doesn’t seem to be any problem with them, it is just his heart we are now concerned about. It’s a
‘She was very much loved’
terrible thing that has happened, truly unbelievable ... our hearts go out to this woman.’
Mrs Potgieter denied claims that her husband’s vehicle had its front windows open prior to the attack on Monday afternoon, flouting the park’s rules. In a statement on behalf of their business, Kalabash Tours, she said Miss Chappell had opened her window ‘of her own accord’ at the last moment.
Miss Chappell travelled to South Africa a week ago via London from Vancouver, where she was a visual effects editor.
After working on several productions in her home state of New York, in 2013 she moved to Canada to take up a role at award- winning visual effects company Scanline. There, she worked on HBO drama Game of Thrones, as well as feature films such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Divergent.
She was part of the special effects team that won a Primetime Emmy for 2014 Game of Thrones episode The Children.
Miss Chappell’s sister Jennifer paid tribute to her on Facebook, writing: ‘Katie was a brilliant, kind, adventurous and high-spirited woman ... she was very much loved and shared her love for life with those she met.’