Man moves closer to lion moat area at Hyderabad Zoo

Hyderabad, Nov 23 (IANS) A man managed to reach on to the boulders of the African lion moat area at Nehru Zoological Park here on Tuesday, giving some tense moments to the zoo staff and visitors.

He, however, was rescued by Zoo staff, who handed him over to police.

The 31-year-old man, later identified as G. Sai Kumar, managed to get on to the boulder of the African Lion moat area, where the lions are released in the exhibited enclosure.

According to Nehru Zoological Park curator S. Rajashekar, the incident occurred around 3.30 p.m. He said the person was walking vulnerably on the boulders of the moat area, which is totally a prohibited area.

A video released by the Zoo authorities shows the man sitting vulnerably on a boulder while the lion was staring at him from the ground.

It appeared as if he was going to jump down. The visitors were terrified and were heard shouting to dissuade him. Two Zoo employees appeared from behind and one of them ordered him to come out. It was only then that the man walked away.

The Zoo staff caught and handed him over to Bahadurpura police station. The police registered a case and began questioning him.

It was not clear how the man managed to reach the prohibited area.

In 2016, a 35-year-old drunk man had jumped into a lion enclosure at Nehru Zoological Park but was rescued unhurt by the alert animal keeper.

Mukesh, a native of Sikar district in Rajasthan, had crossed the barricade of the African lion enclosure despite warnings by the security staff.