A man’s attempt to end life at a Chilean zoo led to the killing of two lions last week. However, a drunk man’s misadventure of entering the enclosure of African lions, apparently to shake hands with a lioness, caused a flutter and landed him in police custody at Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad.
Had it not been for the alertness of the zoo animal keepers, the lioness would have mauled the intruder. It was around 4.55 pm when 35-year-old Mukesh Kumar jumped into the moat, ignoring the warnings of onlookers, calling the lioness ‘darling’.
As he splashed into the water, the lioness Radhika moved towards him. Soon her partner, lion Krishna too started approaching the intruder. Mukesh, however, was not the one to fear. In a fully inebriated state, Mukesh extended his hand towards the wild animals.
As the onlookers screamed in panic and started throwing whatever they could at the lions toward them away from Mukesh, the animal keepers rushed to the spot. Animal keeper R Papaiah called Radhika, the lioness, to move aside even as Mukesh kept extending his arm to her. Papaiah, who has been taking care of the two wild cats for the last seven years, also intervened calling the two to step back. The animal keepers managed to divert the attention of the wildcats, while Mukesh, after much pleading, was rescued from the jaws of death without a scratch and then handed over to the police.
Mukesh Kumar, who hails from Kurdiya in Sikar district of Rajasthan and has been staying in Nagole in the city for the past one month.
He is a labourer working with the L&T Metro Rail project. Kumar reached the zoo along with five of his co-workers after gulping down a few pegs in the afternoon.
While going around the zoo, he found himself lost standing clueless outside the lion enclosure. “No one was around. I wanted to shake hands with the lioness, fight the lion and also end my life. So I went inside,” Mukesh, who got estranged from his wife, said.
Zoo curator Shivani Dogra, who took charge only a day before, appealed to the visitors to follow rules to ensure their safety. “From now on, one security guard would be posted outside the enclosure of all carnivorous animals. We will also seek more police patrol inside the zoo park,” said Dogra.
No one was around. I wanted to shake hands with the lioness, fight the lion and also end my life. So I entered the lion enclosure Mukesh Kumar, a labourer working with L&T Metro Rail