A man has died after being mauled to death by a white tiger in a zoo enclosure. The horrific attack happened at Delhi zoo at around 1.30pm this afternoon. At this stage it is unclear exactly how the 22-year-old man ended up in the enclosure, but it has been suggested he jumped in voluntarily.
Tragic pictures show the young man cowering against the wall of the enclosure as the tiger, named Jijay, approached.
Witnesses said he was locked in the animal's jaws for 10 to 15 minutes before police raced to the scene but he could not be saved. Some reportedly tried to throw stones at the tiger - an endangered species - in an attempt to scare it away, but that this may have enraged it further. There were also suggestions the railing surrounding the enclosure was too low and the man fell in accidentally. But officials for Delhi zoo insisted the man climbed over barriers and jumped in. "Around 1.30 pm, when we were in the reptiles area, we heard very loud screams," an eyewitness told CNN-IBN news.
We saw some kids throwing in small sticks and stones inside the tiger enclosure. "Then we saw that a white tiger had caught a boy by his neck and he was writhing badly in pain.
"He kept suffering for the next 10-15 minutes but nobody helped him." National Zoological Park spokesman Riyaz Ahmed Khan claimed the man climbed into the enclosure voluntarily. He said the young man climbed over a knee-high fence and hedges and jumped 18ft down into a protective moat despite repeated warnings he should not get too close.
The tiger, which lives on a grassy tree-filled island, then grabbed the man from the moat. Authorities eventually frightened the tiger into a small cage inside the enclosure.
The man, whose body remained in the outdoor enclosure two hours after the attack, was dead by the time help reached him, Mr Khan said. The zoo remained open, though authorities eventually roped off the tiger enclosure. Police are investigating the incident.
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