NEW DELHI: In a bizarre incident, a 17-year-old student fell into the enclosure of a white tiger in Delhi zoo on Tuesday and lost his life as he came face to face with the animal.
The youth was trying to take a snap of the big cat and was leaning against a wall while he slipped, and fell into the dry moat which separated the enclosure from the visitors area.
“As soon as the youth slipped and fell into the moat, the tiger approached him and silently watched him for nearly 15 minutes,” Bittoo, an eyewitness, who recorded the entire incident on his mobile, told media persons.
He said what possibly provoked the tiger to attack the man was when onlookers and a guard tried to divert its attention by pelting stones at it.
“Everyone was pelting stones and making noises to divert the tiger’s attention,” Bittoo added. “It was then that the tiger pounced on the youth with his paw and dragged him inside his enclosure by his neck,” Bittoo added.
Another eyewitness Himanshu said: “The man was cowering in fear and appeared to be pleading with folded hands to the tiger to spare him. The barricading around the tiger was hardly two to three feet in height.”
The zoo staff managed to drag the tiger in its closed enclosure by luring him with meat.
The zoo authorities claimed only one guard is assigned per enclosure and that visitors are warned not to get too close to animal enclosures. Most of the time, visitors ignore these warnings, a zoo official said.
