18-2-2024 (NEW DELHI) In a tragic incident at Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Tirupati, India, a 38-year-old man lost his life after sneaking into a restricted area and jumping into a lion enclosure to take a selfie with the big cat.
The victim, identified as Prahlad Gujjar, a driver from Rajastan in northern India, entered the no-entry zone near the lion’s enclosure around 2:30 pm local time. Despite a zookeeper’s warnings and attempts to stop him, Gujjar climbed a 1.2m-tall safety wall and a 1.8m-tall fence to access the enclosure.
Appearing to be under the influence of alcohol, Gujjar attempted to take a selfie with the 12-year-old lion named Dongalpur. The lion swiftly attacked Gujjar, dragging him to a corner of the enclosure and fatally mauling him within a span of 10 minutes.
Man dares lion for a selfie, jumps into enclosure, gets mauled.
40-year-old Prahlad Gujjar jumped into a lion enclosure for a selfie in Tirupati SV Zoo park. He also behaved in a way to provoke the lion. After the lion attacked him, he made an in vain attempt to save himself by… pic.twitter.com/4vWaRNkSZM
— Sudhakar Udumula (@sudhakarudumula) February 15, 2024
Zoo officials promptly moved Dongalpur out of the enclosure to facilitate the retrieval of the victim’s severely injured body. Gujjar’s body was subsequently sent to a government hospital for a post-mortem examination, with speculation that excessive bleeding led to his demise.
Authorities are currently investigating whether Gujjar was intoxicated during the incident. The victim had visited the zoo alone, and his family has been informed of the tragic event.
Dongalpur has been relocated to a cage and is under observation. The zoo curator, C Selvam, stated that additional security measures would be reviewed and implemented to prevent similar incidents in the future.
