New Delhi: The family of the 20-year-old man who was mauled to death by a white tiger at the Delhi zoo, on Wednesday demanded strict action against the security guards who “did not act” when the victim fell into the enclosure.
“My son was not at fault. It should be investigated whether he jumped or was pushed into the enclosure. But the security guards posted at that time should have acted,” Mehfooj, father of Maksood who was killed by the tiger on Tuesday, told IANS.
“The tiger was standing in front of him (Maksood) for more than 10 minutes. It was a long period of time in which the zoo staff could have saved my son,” he said.
Police should investigate the case and put such people behind bars, he added.
Mehfooj is a labourer and lives in Delhi’s Anand Parbat area with his family.
The Delhi zoo authorities, however, denied his claims and said the guard posted at the enclosure tried to stop the youth twice.
“But Maksood crossed the stand-off barriers when the guard was not looking. He then jumped into the enclosure,” said R.A. Khan, curator of the National Zoological Park.
Khan also alleged that Maksood was drunk at the time.
Police told IANS they were waiting for the post-mortem report, expected in a day or two.
“We have registered a case under section 304 A (causing death by negligence) against unknown people. Our probe is on,” said a police officer.
Videos recorded by other visitors on their mobile phones also showed that Maksood was crouching against the wall for a few minutes while the tiger stood in front of him.
Meanwhile, “curiosity” and “inquisitiveness” brought many visitors to the Delhi zoo Wednesday. Many visitors agreed that it was only after they heard and saw footage of the incident that they decided to visit the zoo and see the tiger that “killed the youth” Tuesday.
“I am from Lucknow, and it was only after I read about yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) incident in the newspapers that I decided to come to the Delhi zoo. Otherwise, this trip was not planned,” D.C. Gupta, a visitor, told IANS.
Echoing similar sentiments, Mukul Chopra, a resident of Mayur Vihar in east Delhi, said his family decided to visit the National Zoological Park in central Delhi after they heard about the incident.
A guard at the zoo said though the zoo always sees “good rush”, more people came Wednesday.
“The rush, especially after yesterday’s incident, is only going to increase as people are curious about the tiger,” the guard, who did not wish to be named, told IANS.
The buzz at the zoo was about the white tiger named Vijay who killed 20-year-old Maksood after he fell into the animal’s moat.
Vijay’s enclosure had the maximum crowd Wednesday, with curious visitors wanting to have a look at the wild cat.
Many called out his name when they saw another white tiger sitting in the enclosure. There are 11 tigers — six white and five Royal Bengal.
Vijay, officials said, will be kept under observation and was fine.
“He has been doing absolutely fine, but we will be keeping him under observation for the next four to five days. However, until now he has not shown any unusual behaviour,” said zoo curator R.A. Khan.
He also insisted that Vijay was not a man-eater as he was born in captivity.
However, all visitors agreed that there was a “lapse” on the part of the zoo officials who they said “did not act in accordance with the gravity of the situation”.
“Look at this fencing, it is hardly of any height. Even a child can cross such barricading. A tiger is a ferocious animal and requires better fencing around its enclosure. Such barricading is equivalent to having none,” a visitor who did not wish to be named told IANS.
The tiger’s enclosure is guarded by a three-tier fencing comprising a three-feet-high metal fence, a shrub area and finally a cemented wall — which extends up to the enclosure’s moat area.
Agreed Pallavi Vishwakarma, who suggested that the height of the fence should be above the average Indian height.
“After watching the video yesterday (Tuesday), there was only one question on my mind. What was the zoo authority doing? Fifteen minutes is a lot of time to take action. They should deploy at least three guards and increase the fencing,” the 30-year-old Vishwakarma, a resident of Faridabad, told IANS.
However, Khan said “all cages are fit” and it is the visitor’s fault that he jumped into the animal’s enclosure.
“We have a protocol that is followed, but the guards did not get a chance to do so as it takes nearly 10-15 minutes. The animal (Vijay) killed the man in less than five minutes,” Khan said.
“The only option we had was to call the animal back inside his cage by making noises, but it was too late by then,” he added.
On being asked about using tranquiliser guns, Khan said the guards posted at the enclosure were not equipped with the guns as they were “costly and can be misused”.
“We have two such guns and those are kept in our medical room which is half a kilometre from the tiger’s enclosure. But it takes time to first load the gun, give it pressure and then finally shoot. And even after the animal is given a tranquiliser shot it takes nearly 10-15 minutes for it to take effect,” Khan told IANS.
