A man was mauled to death by lions when he jumped into their enclosure at the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park (SVZP) in Tirupati on Thursday (February 15).
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The victim has been identified as Prahlad Gujjar (34), hailing from Bansur municipality in Alwar district of Rajasthan. He arrived at the zoo as a lone visitor by purchasing a ticket. However, upon reaching the lions enclosure, he reportedly flouted the norms and entered the enclosure to click a selfie.
Even as the watcher on duty observed him from a distance of 200m and raised an alarm, the man scaled a huge wall and jumped into the secluded zone from where he reached the gate that is accessible only to caretakers and doctors.
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Of the one female and two male lions in the enclosure, one male lion identified as Dungarpur pounced upon Prahlad, held him by his neck and tore off his clothes. Though he was said to have climbed a tree to escape, his attempts turned futile. The lion dragged him for a distance of 100 metres within the enclosure, before the watcher shooed it away into the cage.
Zoo authorities and the local police rushed to the spot and retrieved the body from the spot. Though his entry into the zoo premises was confirmed by the CCTV footage, surprisingly, there was no cameras available anywhere near the lions enclosure.
While there were speculations that the victim was either mentally unstable or in an inebriated condition, police, however, declined to comment, adding that it would be confirmed only after conducting a post-mortem.