‘Said last prayers’: Vadodara zoo curator on surviving hippo attack

Over three months after the attack, Patankar, 41, is still recovering from a fracture in his right thigh even as the scars of the bites on his arm are slowly healing.

At his official residence, located few meters away from the hippopotamus enclosure, Patankar recalls the horrifying incident. “I got into the enclosure that evening… it was not unusual for me to do that in case of herbivores. I was concerned because hippos do not bleed so easily. I wanted to check if a metal rod was jutting out in the enclosure which could do more harm. I was examining the railing on the periphery while the hippo and her calf were in the water pool. But I had a sense of foreboding when I saw Dimpy (the mother hippo) trying to get out of the water. I immediately headed out of the enclosure. Unfortunately, my sandals were stuck in the railing. I lost my balance and fell back inside from a height of seven feet,” he shares.

Helpless, he landed on the ground with a cracked bone in the thigh. “I knew I had broken a bone with the fall and would not be able to move. My mind was prepared for the attack as I could see that Dimpy was charging towards me. Frankly, I had said my last prayers but I knew I had to remain calm to avoid a savage assault,” he says.

What followed was a brutal bite from Dimpy on Patankar’s left forearm, and shoulder blade. “One can never be prepared for such an attack. But at that moment, despite the excruciating pain I was in, I knew I had to remain lifeless. Any movement or objection would have resulted in more aggression. I did not react when she bit me on my arm. The third bite on my scapula bone was brutal, leaving it fractured and with a deep hole from the canine teeth. The doctor told me an entire human finger could be inserted into that bite injury… it was so deep,” Patankar says.

In a last-ditch attempt at survival, Patankar pretended to be dead. “I held my breath as much as I could although I could feel the warm blood on me as well as the mucus from the hippo’s mouth. My staff shouted in panic but I realised that after three bite wounds, Dimpy calmed down. She was trying to sniff me… shoving me with her snout. She might have felt some kind of familiarity because I had fed her many times,” he recollects.

Even as Patankar thought the worst was perhaps over, the three-year-old calf — Mangal– launched another attack. “It was the calf that suddenly came around my head and opened his jaw to take my head in his mouth. It was at that time I moved, putting up my arms into his mouth and slipping my head away. It ended up crushing my left little finger under its teeth but I knew that for any chance of survival with such injuries, I had to protect my head and chest region..,” he shares. It was at this time that Rohit Ithape, a security guard, intervened to save Patankar, hitting the hippos with a bamboo stick.

Before Patankar could fathom what happened next, he saw the two hippos running away to the far corner of the enclosure while another security guard jumped in to drag away blood-soaked Patankar behind the grille of the night enclosure of the hippos. “I lost my spectacles and my face was smeared in mucus and blood. I could only tell there was some action happening at the other end of the enclosure. Later, I learned that Rohit had jumped in to save me and became the victim of a savage attack. I did have superficial injuries on my head but it was only after a thorough CT scan that the doctors heaved a sigh of relief about internal injuries.” he remembers.

Both Ithape, 42, and Patankar were rushed to the Narhari Hospital near the zoo. Patankar underwent surgeries for multiple fractures and stayed hospitalised for nine days before being discharged while Ithape was shifted to an ICU at a private hospital, where he underwent an amputation on his injured leg within a week of the attack.

Ithape died from a brain haemorrhage on May 15 after two months of hospitalisation.

While Patankar could never meet Rohit in person, he says that Ithape “took on himself” what was meant for Patankar. “I thank God for this second life… I don’t think I would have made it out alive without anyone coming in to save me since I could not even move… What he (Ithape) did was take on himself what was meant for me. He was a brave ex-serviceman, who had the courage to come to my rescue. I only wish he had made it… I could not meet him due to my injuries and because he was in the ICU but we spoke on video call two times. I thought he would make it but he didn’t,” says Patankar.

Patankar, who is recuperating, is looking ahead to resume his duty next week with ‘safety practices’ in mind. The attack has taught a few lessons, he admits. “Once I resume work, I would certainly focus on in-house training for the staff in the zoo to react in such situations. We have had a few incidents in the past where I have saved caretakers from attacks by a deer and a nilgai. When we are working with animals, there is bound to be conflict at times but one must know how to handle it. We will also look at procuring safety equipment for the zoo like stun guns and electric rods for mild shocks to distract the animals. Unfortunately, most zoos in India have no safety equipment at the moment,” he says.

Delving deeper into the possible reasons the hippos would have charged at him unexpectedly, he says, “Since we were cleaning their water pool, they had been out of the water for the most part of the day. My staff later confirmed the female hippo was also in heat (Estrus) which could be the reason for the aggression. Also, the regular caretaker of the enclosure was on leave. If he had been around, they would have moved back with just a voice command.”

Patankar is unfazed by questions raised by city-based animal activists on his judgment of entering the enclosure. The curator, who has been on duty at Sayajibaug since 2016, says,
“The zoo functions in this way. If there is an injury to an animal, we enter enclosures (herbivores) or come in close proximity to check on them to plan the line of treatment and call in the veterinary doctors… However, the attack is a reminder that one has to be watchful and prepared too.”