A day after he mauled a man to death at Delhi zoo, Vijay, the tiger, remained confined to his cage on Wednesday as part of the observation programme planned by the authorities.
Delhi zoo veterinary Paneerselvam said, “Vijay has been kept in his enclosure and is under observation to ensure that there is no aggression in his behaviour. He is eating well and drinking water and is comfortable. Top officials from the Ministry and Animal Welfare Board inspected the animal on Wednesday.”
Explaining that it is wrong to call Vijay a ‘man-eater or an aggressive animal’, he said, “The tiger is zoo-bred and has not been exposed to any situation where he has needed to hunt for survival. He is very calm. The crowd agitated him, confusing, and scaring the animal. He merely reacted to the situation created around him. His first instinct wasn’t to attack.”
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Stating that it is wrong to say that zoo authorities were not prepared to tackle the situation, he said, “The entire accident was over in five minutes.” Meanwhile, those coming to the zoo maintained that they were curious to ‘see’ the tiger that attacked and killed a man. “We have come here from Faridabad to see the tiger. It is a powerful and majestic animal,’’ said Brajesh, who came to the zoo with his group of friends. But, instead of Vijay, they got to see a white tigress Kalpana in the same enclosure. Meanwhile, the body of Maqsood, was handed over to his family members on Wednesday evening. His brother, Mehmud (18), told