Man enters lion enclosure in India zoo for selfie, gets mauled to death

A man in his 30s was mauled to death by a lion at a zoo in India after he jumped into its enclosure to take a selfie with the big feline.

Prahlad Gujjar, who is from Rajasthan in northern India, climbed over a fence at Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Andhra Pradesh state on Feb 15 despite warnings from a zookeeper to keep his distance, reported news outlets.

"Though the watcher on duty cautioned him not to get close to the enclosure, Prahlad intentionally marched towards the enclosure which has a four feet (1.2m) wall and six feet (1.8m) tall iron fencing and jumped into it," said zoo curator C. Selvam to newspaper The Times of India.

Gujjar entered a non-public area and jumped into the enclosure at about 2.30pm, said police inspector Thameem Ahmed.

The lion, named Dongalpur, attacked the man before the zookeeper could react.

The authorities are currently conducting a post-mortem on Gujjar's body and are reportedly looking into whether he was inebriated at the time of the incident, said British outlet Daily Mail.

Gujjar visited the zoo alone and his family has been informed of the incident, said Ahmed.

Dongalpur, one of three lions at the zoo, has since been moved to a cage and is being kept under observation.

"We have taken the utmost precaution to prevent such incidents. We will once again review the security measures to prevent such incidents in the future," said Selvam.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.