VISAKHAPATNAM: An animal keeper died after being attacked by a Himalayan black bear at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in the city on Monday. The deceased, identified as B Nagesh Babu (23), was an outsourced employee and had been working at the zoo for the past two years.
The Himalayan bear, named Jihwan, is around 10-11 years old, IGZP authorities said. According to information reaching here, the assistant veterinary surgeon at the zoo enquired about Nagesh during his routine rounds around 10.30 am. A security guard informed him that the animal keeper had gone to the black bear’s enclosure to clean it.
The guard found Nagesh lying near the bear’s night shelter and the animal sitting outside the gate. He immediately alerted the officials. A team, including zoo curator Nandini Salaria, cordoned off the spot. They lured the bear with honey and successfully sent it back into the enclosure. They noticed that all four gates of the enclosure were open.
They found Nagesh in an unconscious state with serious injuries on his head, left arm and chest. Doctors confirmed that the animal keeper was dead. The zoo curator said the incident came to light only after the assistant veterinary doctor enquired about the animal keeper.
‘Animal keeper lost his life due to negligence’
Suspecting that Nagesh might have left the doors of the night shelter open while cleaning it, Nandini said, “The bear must have entered into the shelter from the day kraal and attacked the animal keeper before coming outside.”
The curator added that such an unfortunate incident has never happened at the zoo. “The animal keeper lost his life due to his own negligence,” she said. An ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh has been approved by the principal conservator of forest as an immediate relief, besides claims like statutory benefits, she said.
As per protocol, every door once opened has to be immediately closed and locked. The officials pointed out that all four doors at a night house were found to be open. The authorities also found a broken drainage pipe and suspect that Nagesh might have used it to intimidate the bear.
Jihwan was brought from Mizoram. According to zoo officials, he was very friendly with Nagesh and even very responsive to the visitors.
There are 36 temporary and six permanent animal keepers at the zoo. All of them are well-trained to deal with the animals in their respective enclosures, Nandini pointed out.
Rs 10 Lakh ex-gratia announced
Zoo curator Nandini Salaria said such an unfortunate incident has never happened before. She added that an ex-gratia of `10 lakh has been approved for the bereaved family by the principal conservator
of forest