Two tigers maul Bannerghatta National Park caretaker to death

Bengaluru: In a tragic killing that could have been avoided, the 42 year old caretaker at the Bannerghatta National Park (BNP) Aanji alias Anjaneya was attacked and mauled to death by two white tigers on Saturday evening.

Aanji was driving the tigers back to the cage after feeding them when they attacked him, as he inadvertently left the bolt of the cage open, sources said. The incident occurred around 5.30 pm, but the authorities could recover the body only around 7 pm, as they had a tough time driving the two tigers away from the body.

The officials said that the tigers did not tear the flesh off the body as they had just been fed and were not hungry. But with more big cats joining the two tigers, both one-and-a-half years old, after they attacked Aanji, it made it difficult to save the caretaker, the sources said.

Though Aanji was working at the zoo for many years, he was deputed to the safari area only on October 1. His inexperience too could have led to his death, the sources said.

Some months ago, another zoo keeper, Krishna, was attacked by two lions after he left the side door of the cage open. His spine was damaged and he suffered severe injuries on his torso.

Only a few days ago, two royal Bengal tigers had attacked and killed a white tiger. Though the royal Bengal and white tigers are kept in two adjacent enclosures, that day, the gate between the two had been left open by accident. Mr Anur Reddy, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (retired), had pointed out that park authorities should have a standard operating procedure to tackle such incidents.