Man enters lion’s den at Hyderabad zoo, lives

HYDERABAD: A man went close to the moat of an African lion at Nehru Zoological Park on Tuesday, but guards rescued him before the big cat could do any harm. Bahadurpura police said the man appeared not in a completely sound mental condition, but investigation is on. Later, the officials released a video of 31-year-old G Sai Kumar attempting the misadventure. Kumar reached the boulder-like structure at the moat. He sat on it for a while as the lion stared at him. A little later, the big cat charged and tried to reach him from its open enclosure, but could not scale the wall. Around this time , visitors at the zoo noticed that a man had breached the security enclosure and had gone close to the moat. They raised an alarm as the lion’s gaze was fixated upon the intruder. Meanwhile, two guards of the zoo reached the location and called him. On seeing them, he returned. They took him into custody, thrashed him and later handed him over to police. “Today, around 3:30pm a person who was walking vulnerably on the boulders of the African lion moat area, where the lions are released in the exhibited enclosure at Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad, which is a absolutely prohibited area, was rescued and caught by the zoo staff and handed over to the Bahadurpura police,’‘ Nehru Zoological park curator said in a press release.Sai bought a ticket like any other visitor and entered the zoo. “He looked not in complete sound mental condition. Fifteen years ago his family had abandoned him. He claims that his parents are in Keesara, we are trying to trace them. As of now, there is no case against him since he is mentally unsound,’’ Bahadurpura inspector D Durga Prasad told TOI.