A man has been killed by an endangered tiger after allegedly jumping into its moat at an Indian zoo.
The
man, named locally as Maqsood, is said to have been under the influence
of alcohol when he climbed into the white tiger enclosure at New Delhi
Zoo on Tuesday.
Witnesses say the 22-year-old entered the enclosure despite several attempts by zoo security to keep him from the tigers.
Lethal jump: The man, named locally as Maqsood,
22, faces the white tiger in its enclosure at National Zoological Park
in New Delhi
Once the
man had jumped into the enclosure, the tiger grabbed him by the neck as
terrified onlookers began throwing sticks and stones at the animal to
try to save him.
Photos
posted online of the attack show the tiger standing over the victim,
who can be seen curled into a ball, trying to protect his head with his
hands.
A
witness said he raced to the enclosure after hearing screams, to see
the victim locked in the tiger's jaws, ‘writhing badly in pain’.
‘Around 1.30pm, when we were in the reptiles area, we heard very loud screams,’ the witness told CNN-IBN news channel.
‘We
saw that a white tiger had caught a boy by his neck and he was writhing
badly in pain. He kept suffering for the next 10-15 minutes but nobody
helped him.’
Attack: A screenshot from Indian
television show the white tiger standing over the man after he jumped
into its enclosure at the New Delhi Zoo
Fierce foe: According to officials the man
appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and jumped over the fence
despite zoo security's attempts to stop him
Indian police and zoo personnel retrieve the shoes the man, who was 'dragged around the enclosure' by the white tiger
Another witness said the tiger kept ‘roaming around’ the enclosure, holding the victim by the neck.
Zoo
officials said the man had appeared to have been ‘under the influence
of alcohol’ and that security had tried to keep him away from the tiger
enclosure.
‘Despite
repeated warnings that he shouldn't get too close to the outdoor
enclosure, the man eventually climbed over a knee-high fence and small
hedges, then jumped down 18 feet into a protective moat,‘ National
Zoological Park spokesman Riyaz Ahmed Khan said.
Authorities
eventually frightened the tiger into a small cage inside the enclosure.
The man, whose body remained in the outdoor enclosure two hours after
the attack, was dead by the time help reached him, Khan said.
Gruesome: According to witnesses, the man's body
was left in the enclosure for several hours before police were able to
remove it
Tragedy: Zoo workers and security staff carry Maqsood's body past the tiger cage at the zoo in New Delhi
The man, whose body remained in the outdoor enclosure two hours after the attack, was dead by the time help reached him
The zoo remained open Tuesday afternoon, though authorities eventually roped off the tiger enclosure.
White
tigers are found in southern and eastern Asia, particularly India, and
owe their appearance to a recessive gene. They are regarded as an
endangered species.
India
is home to 1,706 Royal Bengal tigers and fewer than 100 white tigers,
according to the last census in 2011. All the white tigers are in
captivity.
Rampant poaching and loss of habitat due to human encroachment are cited as the major challenges to tiger conservation efforts.
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