Walk on the wild side: Scared residents spot huge lion prowling through streets in South African city

SHOCKING images have surfaced of a huge male lion prowling the empty streets of Johannesburg in the middle of the night.

The dangerous feline was spotted in a residential area of South Africa's biggest city, even climbing up onto the back of a parked car.

However it later emerged that the big cat was not a wild animal on the loose but a tame film star borrowed from a nearby zoo.

A film crew had fenced off the area and closed roads so that they could shoot Columbus the lion's stroll through the city.

Wandering down mane street ... it turned out the area had been cordoned off Caters

Local celebrity ... Columbus has starred in several movies and TV adverts Caters

The lion park where Columbus lives also said he has previously starred in several films and adverts.

Irvaan Dolley, from Ibiza, Spain, who witnessed the night walk, said: "It was a strange sight to see the lion strolling through the city like that and my first thought was to run.

"But it swiftly turned out that the situation was under control and we weren't in any danger, despite the lion being so close by.

"The lion was actually part of a film production taking place in Johannesburg City Centre. So it wasn't roaming around freely as expected on social media."

Roads row ... the local roads authority say they were not consulted by the film crew over the planned shoot Caters

While the situation may have been under control, some accused the production company of not gaining the proper permissions for the shoot.

The Johannesburg Roads Agency told Mail Online that they had not been consulted over the road closures, and that without regulation residents could still have been at risk.

Zanta Myeza, from the JRA, said: "The people who were there were taking chances."