VISAKHAPATNAM: In a tragic incident, a zoo keeper was mauled to death by a bear at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in the city on Monday. The animal keeper B Nagesh Babu (23), who had been working as an outsourcing employee for the last two years, was attacked by a Himalayan black bear (aged 10-11 years) named Jihwan.
At around 10.30 am, the assistant veterinary surgeon of the zoo during his routine rounds enquired about the keeper of the sloth bear and black bear with the security guard at the bear section. The security guard told him that he had gone to the black bear enclosure for cleaning.
The security guard who started searching for Nagesh found him near the night house of the black bear, which was sitting at the outer gate.
The security guard ran away from there immediately and alerted the other zoo staff who were near the bear section. The entire team, including the curator, immediately gathered to tranquilize the animal. Luring the black bear with honey, the team was successful in sending it back to the enclosure and the gates were closed immediately. They found Nagesh Babu in an unconscious state with serious injuries on his head and the left side of his body including his arm and chest. Doctors who reached the spot confirmed that the keeper was dead.
According to zoo curator Nandini Salaria, the incident came to light only after the assistant veterinary doctor inquired about the keeper at the enclosure. "The keeper left all the doors open in the animal night house and went inside to clean it, due to which the animal came out from the day kraal into the night house and attacked him," Salaria said.
She said it was a very unfortunate incident and had never happened earlier in the zoo. They found a drainage pipe at the night house and the keeper may have used it to intimidate the animal, said Salaria. Keepers are always vigilant when it comes to dealing with wild animals and as per the protocol, every door once opened has to be immediately closed and locked. There are four doors at a night house and in this case, all doors were found to be open, which led the animal to come out, she said.
The animal brought from Mizoram is generally very friendly with the keeper and even very responsive to visitors, said the curator. She said Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia to the family of the keeper has been approved by the principal conservator of forests as an immediate relief apart from other claims like statutory benefits.
There are 36 temporary keepers and six permanent keepers at the zoo and all of them are well-trained to deal with the animals in their respective enclosures, she said.