Lion kills man who entered enclosure for taking selfie at Tirupati zoo

livemint.com:

A man was mauled to death by a lion on Thursday when he jumped into its enclosure at the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park (SVZP) in Tirupati to take a selfie with the big cat. The victim, identified as 38-year-old Prahlad Gujjar from Alwar district in Rajasthan, entered the enclosure and attempted to take a selfie with the lion. Authorities at the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park said the victim entered an area which is not open to the general public ignoring a caretaker's warnings to back off.

The victim climbed a fence that is over 25 feet tall and jumped into the enclosure, the caretaker said. The zoo authorities said one male lion named Dungarpur pounced upon Prahlad, held him by his neck and mauled Gujjar to death before the caretaker could act. Though the victim tried to escape by climbing a tree, his attempts turned futile, the Zoo authorities added The Tirupati Police has registered a case and a post-mortem is being conducted.

While there were speculations that the victim was either mentally unstable or in an inebriated condition, police, however, declined to comment, adding that it would be confirmed only after conducting a post-mortem. Gujjar was visiting the zoo alone and authorities are trying to get in touch with his family, said an official. The zoo has three lions – Dongalpur, Kumarand and Sundari.