An animal keeper in the Nehru Zoological Park escaped a gory fate in the nick of time on Monday while cleaning the lion enclosure.
The keeper, Syed Hussain, entered the night house on Monday morning to clean it after sending the resident lioness into an adjacent enclosure. He, however, forgot to close the intermediary door between the enclosures.
While he was busy cleaning, the animal returned. Unaware of her presence, Hussain turned around and was shell-shocked to find the lioness right in front of him.
He shouted and ran for his life, but not before the incensed lioness sprang forth and scratched his hand. He was taken to the hospital, and was treated as an outpatient.
Curator Sunil S. Hiremath said the eight-year-old African lioness named Sirisha was recovering from paralysis of her hind legs. She regained her movement recently and is able to walk around.
After the incident, the lioness came out of the night enclosure and was found near the Crocodile moat by the zoo’s veterinary team, who tranquillised her and shifted her back to the enclosure.
There were no visitors and only sparse staff as Monday was a holiday for the zoo.
A statement from the zoo said a preliminary enquiry into the incident has found that Mr. Hussain was negligent in adherence to safety measures. In view of such instances earlier too, it has been decided to bring in experts to train the staff to handle such situations and also to reduce such incidents.
