A 40-year-old employee of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Garden, also known as Lucknow zoo, died and another was injured when they were attacked by a hippopotamus while clearing its cage on Monday morning. The hippopotamus had recently been shifted to the Lucknow zoo from Kanpur. The deceased has been identified as Suraj, who was working at the Lucknow Zoo on contractual basis for more than a decade. The injured person, identified as Raju, is undergoing treatment at a hospital and his condition stable. On Monday morning, Suraj and Raju entered the hippopotamus' cage for cleaning. The duo were doing their work when the animal attack. Raju managed to escape from the cage. Zoo director Aditi Sharma said an inquiry into the incident is being conducted. She added that it is a clear direction to all employees to confine the animal in a portion of the cage, before entering it. “It would be part of inquiry to find why the animal was not confined in a portion of the cage when the two employees entered,” said Sharma. Suraj is survived by his wife and two children - a daughter and a son.
