Bear kills worker at Vizag zoo as visitors look on

 Visakhapatnam: A bear at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park killed an employee of the zoo on Monday when he entered the wild animal’s cage to clean it.

Police said Banvarapu Nagesh Kumar, aged 25, resident of Burujuvalasa village in Dattirajeru mandal of Vizianagaram district, worked as an outsourced employee at the Visakhapatnam zoo. He went to the bear’s cage on Monday morning to clean it.

Arilova circle inspector Swami Shekar said in the normal course, when a cage is to be cleaned, the animal is released out of the cage. The cage is then locked from inside and cleaned.

However, Nagesh did not lock the cage while cleaning it. As a result, the bear that had been released entered the cage and attacked him. The many visitors present at the time witnessed horror as the bear mauled Nagesh.

Zoo authorities immediately responded and captured the bear. They rushed severely injured Nagesh to the hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.