Man Mauled To Death By Lions After Illegally Entering Zoo Enclosure

This is an image of an Asiatic lion at the Kamla Nehru Zoological Garden in Ahmedabad, India, April 1, 2012. Getty Images/Sam Panthaky

An Indian man was mauled to death by lions after he scaled the wall of a zoo in northern Punjab state. The incident took place Sunday after the man entered the restricted area where he was attacked.

Officials said Monday that the unidentified man, believed to be in his 20s, climbed the 20-foot wall of Chhatbir Zoo, where four lions live. Local media reported that the victim was attacked for around 10 minutes by two lions. Hearing his screams, the staff rushed to rescue the man.

“He was an intruder in the zoo. We took him to the hospital but he succumbed to his injuries,” Roshan Sunkaria from the state forest department told local media.

Punjab Wildlife Chief Dr. Kuldeep Kumar said: “The two buses which were inside the safari were immediately sent out and a team of men were rushed inside, after first sending the lions inside their enclosure.” He added that no tranquilizers were used in the entire rescue operation.

According to Kumar, who spoke to local newspaper Hindustan Times, the man was first spotted by a lioness in the enclosure. “Lionesses have a very curious nature.. she instantly attacked the man, caught hold of his neck and then dragged him along,” Kumar said, adding the lioness was joined in by a lion, who also caught hold of his head and mauled the man to death.

The animals that attacked the man were Asiatic lions — a critically endangered species. Only around 500 exist in the wild, all in the Gir sanctuary in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

Last year in February, a man jumped into a lion enclosure at a zoo in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram. However, the man was lucky to have survived as he was rescued immediately. A video taken by another zoo visitor shows the man getting closer to the animal. A watchman noticed him and immediately alerted security staff, who entered the enclosure and pulled him out after diverting the attention of the lioness.

“It would have been a major tragedy if the watchman failed to notice him. If he teased the animal, it would become violent in no time,” an official of the zoo, said at the time.