Bahawalpur Zoo shut down after tigers killed man

The post-mortem has been completed of the unidentified citizen, mauled to death by tigers at Bahawalpur Zoo; however the final report has not been issued yet but the authorities have shut down the zoo, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Zoo sources said that the death of the victim citizen took place 12 hours before receiving the information of the incident.

They told that according to initial post-mortem report the entire flesh of one leg of a citizen was scratched and neck skin was also eaten.

However, there is no fracture of any major bone of the body, said sources, adding the victim was a drug addict.

Body hairs of tigers were also found in the hands of the victim while the way of entering the cage of the citizen could not be found.

According to the initial report of the zoo administration, the deceased was apparently addicted to drugs.

Despite the passage of 34 hours, the real reasons are still could not be revealed by the concerned authorities.

A zoo in Bahawalpur has been shut down after a man was mauled to death by tigers in an attack discovered during routine cleaning, officials said Thursday.

The body was found on Wednesday morning in Bahawalpur’s Sherbagh Zoo in the eastern province of Punjab after staff spotted one of the three tigers with a shoe in its mouth.

"The zoo is closed right now as we determine how the man got in," Ali Usman Bukhari, a senior officer of the province's wildlife department, which operates the zoo, told AFP.

The condition of the body suggests the attack happened late Tuesday night.

"The autopsy report has not been released, however evidence gathered from the enclosure points towards him being alive when he was attacked by the tigers," Bukhari said.

"The tigers did not go out of the den to attack the man, he jumped into their enclosure," he said.

"If we find a security lapse, we will address it. If need be, we will hire private security guards."

The victim has not been identified and no family member has come forward to claim the body.

Speaking to media outside the zoo after the body was discovered on Wednesday, senior local government official Zaheer Anwar said all staff had been accounted for.

"Our assessment so far is that this appears to be a lunatic, because a sensible person would not jump into the den," he said.

"You can see the den is secured. There are stairs behind the den, maybe he jumped from there."

The three tigers present in the den when the body was discovered have been restricted to a smaller space while evidence is collected.

The zoo was built in 1942 by the ruling royal family of the former princely state of Bahawalpur and costs adults 50 rupees (18 cents) to enter.

Pakistan's zoos are generally in a poor condition and frequently accused of disregarding animal welfare.

Reporter: Raza Malik