'Mentally Unstable' Man Who Scaled Lions' Enclosure Killed in India – Reports

New Delhi (Sputnik): A young man was mauled by two lions on Sunday and was found 50 meters inside the restricted area marked by a 30 feet wall-cum-fencing in an injured state at the Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park near Chandigarh in the Indian state of Punjab, as per a report in The Indian Express. The man, whose identity is yet to be verified, was in his twenties

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The zoological park is better known as Chhatbir Zoo and was earlier the hunting ground of the erstwhile Maharaja (ruler) of Patiala.

According to Harpal Singh, the range officer, the man was seen within the enclosure in the afternoon at about 2:20 pm alive and his team reached him within six minutes after receiving an emergency alert, but by that time he had already been mauled. He was rushed to the hospital but did not survive the injuries he received.

A tourist safari driver named Johnny spotted him first. "He was mentally unstable or under influence of alcohol", Jonny said. He added that when he saw him being dragged by a lioness, he informed the authorities immediately and began blowing the horns of his minibus and racing with the vehicle to shoo the lioness away. The lioness by then was joined by another lion.

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Zoological park authorities say that the lions, although well fed, felt were threatened by the entry of a strange human into their space and hence might have attacked the man.

Earlier, in October 1999, a driver was killed by a Himalayan black bear when he fell into the restricted enclosure in an intoxicated state.
The Chhatbir Zoo had 87 lions in 1996. The number has dwindled down to four. At a time, only two lions of the four are released for the tourist safari.