A man from Alwar, Rajasthan, India, aged 38, was fatally mauled by a lion on Thursday, February 15, after he intruded into the big cat’s enclosure at the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Tirupati, India.
The man, identified as Prahlad Gujjar, apparently intended to take a selfie with the lion. He evaded several safety barriers, including a buffer zone meant to maintain a safe gap between visitors and the lion’s environment. Gujjar’s fatal encounter occurred after he climbed a water tank, scaled a four-foot wall, and jumped into the enclosure of a 12-year-old male lion named Dongalpur at approximately 2:30 p.m. The lion subsequently attacked Gujjar, dragging him to a corner of the enclosure and killing him.
Despite attempts by a zoo watcher to dissuade Gujjar from entering the enclosure, the warning came too late. Reports suggest that Gujjar appeared to be drunk at the time of the incident.
According to Mallika Garg, Superintendent of Police in Tirupati, the zoo’s rapid response team was unable to intervene in time to prevent the fatal attack, and Gujjar was declared dead at the scene.
Following the incident, zoo officials managed to lure the lions into their feeding cages, which allowed for the removal of Gujjar’s remains. Identification was confirmed through an Aadhaar card, an Indian identity document bearing a unique ID code, found on his person, along with a bus ticket from Hyderabad to Tirupati dated February 13. This discovery suggests that Gujjar had traveled to Tirupati specifically to visit the zoo.
An investigation into Gujjar’s background revealed that he worked as a driver. His family was notified about the incident via contact information found on his Aadhaar card. A friend of Gujjar claimed ignorance about the reasons behind Gujjar’s visit to Tirupati.
In response to the incident, the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park, one of Asia’s largest zoos covering 1,200 acres, was temporarily closed. This provided an opportunity for a thorough assessment of the zoo’s security measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
