A man has been mauled to death by a tiger in a public zoo.
The man’s half eaten body was found by cleaning staff at the Sherbagh Zoo in the Punjab province of Bahawalpur, India.
It is thought that the man decided to climb into the animals’ enclosure, but what happened next remains a mystery.
It was not until cleaning staff spotted one of the three tigers in the cage walking round with a shoe in its mouth that the body was found.
The victim’s identity is not yet known and no family has come forward to claim what’s left of the body, but the zoo has been closed as a result.
“The tigers did not go out of the den to attack the man, he jumped into their enclosure. If we find a security lapse, we will address it. If need be, we will hire private security guards.”
Emergency services claimed the body looked like it had been there for “several hours” and was later seen being taken out of the premises in a body bag placed inside an ambulance.
The grim death has sent shock waves through the local community. One local government official has now confirmed all members of the zoo’s staff have been accounted for, adding further mystery as to who the half-eaten person could be.
Official Zaheer Anwar labelled the person a “lunatic” as he claimed “a sensible person” would not jump into an apex predator’s den. He added, when speaking to local media outlets: “You can see the den is secured. There are stairs behind the den, maybe he jumped from there.”
