Recently a 35 year old man in Hyderabad jumped inside the lion enclosure at Nehru Zoological Park for an up close and personal meet with the king of the jungle. Apparently he was drunk and the lioness was in no mood to greet him.
However, the question comes who is to blame when such incidents happen. Some people are of the view that the enclosures should be tall enough to avoid such incidents. However aptly put by Bindiya Sehgal, a member of Wildlife SOS, an animal rescue organisation. “Defying these rules, if someone enters an animal’s compound he is doing it at his own risk. The authorities cannot be held responsible for that young boy’s stupidity.”
Here’re some incidents where man clearly crossed the line and in some cases paid the price as well.
September 2014, Delhi Zoo
Image Source
A twenty year old man was mauled to death by a white tiger at Delhi Zoo. Maksood had apparently crossed the standoff barrier and slipped and fell into the tiger’s enclosure.
March 2014, Gwalior Zoo
Image Source
In a bizarre incident, an Engineering student jumped into the tiger enclosure, took off his shirt and even tried to show off his dancing skill to the tiger. Luckily he came out unscratched. I guess, the cat would have considered him totally weird.
July 2012, Jharkhand
Image Source
Again a 32 year old man got serious injuries as he was mauled by a tiger. For some unknown reason he had sneaked into the tiger enclosure at the Tata Steel Zoological Park in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.
August 2009, Hyderabad
Image Source
As a very bad idea, a 35 year old man tried to feed grass to the tiger. He visited the enclosure after visiting hours and tried to feed the white tiger. The tiger lunged at him and tore a good deal of his flesh. I wish someone had told him, that tigers are carnivores.
December 2007, Guwahati
Image Source
This man was in complete mood to become a photographer. His hand got torn up by two tigers as he put it inside the enclosure to click pics. The 50 year old man lost his left arm and later died.
So friends, who do you think is at fault?
Author: Susmita Roy
Featured Image Source
