Man mauled to death after jumping into lion enclosure to take selfie

38-year-old scaled a 12-foot fence and jumped into the lion’s enclosure

A man in southern India was mauled to death by an Asiatic lion after he jumped into his enclosure, forest department officials said.

Prahlad Gujjar, 38, scaled a 12-foot high fence and jumped into the lion’s enclosure at Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Tirupati on Thursday, Andhra Pradesh, zoo officials said.

Gujjar, from Alwar district in Rajasthan, reportedly jumped into the enclosure to take a selfie with the lion and was believed to be in an intoxicated state, according to local media reports.

Tirupati police Mallika Garg said that security guard raised an alarm when they saw him trying to scale the fence and ran towards him. But he jumped into the water tank inside the enclosure.

“When he saw the security guard running towards him, Gujjar jumped on to a water tank and climbed over the 12-foot-high fence surrounding the enclosure, which has a lion and two lionesses,” officer Gard said.

“He jumped and fell in front of the lions, which mauled him. He died on the spot,” he said.

The lions stood nearby the remains of the man till their caretakers coaxed them into the feeding cages and the man’s body was retrieved.

Officers said they found a bus ticket from Hyderabad to Tirupati for 13 February and appeared to be a drive.

Officer Garg said they were trying to locate his family and ascertain if he had mental health issues.

“Whether he was inebriated or not, we will know from the post-mortem report,” he said.

The lion has now been moved to a cage where he will be kept under observation.

In 2014, a white tiger killed a man who entered into its enclusure in Delhi Zoo. The shocking video of the incident went viral and the 20-year-old man was believed to be suffering from mental health issues.