A Mexican woman has said she fought a 230 kilogram lion with a machete near the resort city of Acapulco and scared the big cat away.

Celsa Aleman said she and her seven-year-old niece were riding a donkey on Monday along a road when the lion went after the animal's legs.

VIDEO: Woman fights off lion with machete

The 35-year-old woman said she found the courage to fight the lion because she thought it would attack her niece. She hit the animal with a machete until the beast ran away.

Aleman and her niece were unharmed.

On Tuesday, the Mexican broadcaster Televisa aired pictures of the lion being tranquilised and carried away in a blanket.

Aleman's sister, who owns the donkey, wants the lion's owner to pay for the damages.

"She was bringing the donkey and my daughter with her when the lion attacked. My daughter came running to tell me that the lion was attacking my sister. I want the lion's owner to pay the veterinary bills for the donkey," she said.
"We'll see what he does, but when I ran into him earlier he said that he has the government paid off, that he's got them in his hand."

The state government said in a statement that the lion had escaped from a private zoo owned by a former local congressman.

It said the animal killed two dogs and ate a pig before it was sedated and taken back to the zoo.