Lions at Tirupati zoo maul man who jumped into their enclosure

A man was mauled to death at Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Tirupati after entering the lions’ enclosure there. The incident took place Thursday afternoon when Prahlad Gujjar (34), who hailed from Rajasthan’s Alwar, jumped into the buffer zone around the enclosure.

Tirupati Superintendent of Police Mallika Garg said a security guard raised an alarm and ran after Gujjar. “When he saw the security guard running towards him, Gujjar jumped on to a water tank and climbed over the 12-foot-high fence surrounding the enclosure, which has a lion and two lionesses. He jumped and fell in front of the lions, which mauled him. He died on the spot,” Garg said. After mauling him, the lions stood nearby till their caretakers coaxed them into the feeding cages, following which the man’s body was retrieved.

The SP said they found an Aadhaar card and traced the man’s address to Bansur village in Alwar.

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“We found a bus ticket in his pocket from Hyderabad to Tirupati for February 13. He appears to be a driver. We contacted a mobile number from his Aadhaar card, which turned out to be his friend’s. He said he would go to the village on Friday, inquire about his family and call back. He had no clue why Gujjar was in Tirupati. He was alone and had purchased a single ticket to the zoo. No one noticed anything unusual about him. Whether he was inebriated or not, we will know from the post-mortem report. We are trying to locate his family to ascertain if he had mental health issues,” the SP said.

The zoo, one of the largest in Asia, spread over 1,200 acres with hundreds of animals, was closed for visitors after the incident.