(IN): White tiger chews up drunken visitor’s hand

August 6, 2009

White tiger chews up drunken visitor’s handTNN 6 August 2009, 04:55am IST

HYDERABAD: A white tiger at the Nehru Zoological Park wrenched the right

hand of a visitor when he thrust it into the animal’s enclosure on Wednesday

evening. The incident happened when P Ramesh, 25, a daily wager hailing from

Palakollu in East Godavari, in an inebriated state tried to feed the animal

at around 6 pm when all the animal enclosures were closed for the day.

Ramesh lost the muscles on his right hand from forearm almost up to the

shoulder and also suffered scratches on his face. He was rushed to Osmania

General Hospital where doctors shifted him to the ICU immediately. His

condition is said to be stable.

Zoo officials said that Ramesh was in an inebriated state and trespassed

into the restricted area.

“It is a serious case of intrusion. He was in an inebriated condition and

put his right hand into the cage which the tiger grabbed. When we questioned

him as to why he put his hand inside, he said he wanted to feed the tiger

but there was nothing in his hand. The act is an offence under the Wild Life

Act,” a senior zoo official told TOI.

The ticket counter at the zoo closes at 5 pm, and by 5.30 pm all the animal

enclosures are closed for the day. Subsequently, animal keepers too leave

for the day. “While we maintain the timings strictly, visitors stay back

even after the closure time, and our security team has a tough time chasing

them away in the sprawling 380-acre park,” the official said.

“We will register a case against him if zoo authorities lodge a formal

complaint for trespassing,” Bahadurpura Inspector K Chakrapani told TOI.

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