Hyderabad: The 25-year-old man, who almost became lunch for a hungry African Lion at the Nehru Zoological Park, had a providential escape on Tuesday. When the man, identified as Sai Kumar, was sitting on the wall of the enclosure, ready to jump, 6-year-old Manohar, a male African Lion, was eagerly waiting below for the rare flesh.
It was around 3.30 p.m., when Sai Kumar, managed to climb the wall of the lions’ enclosure, the feeding time of the lions. At one point of time, the young male lion, weighing around 150 kg, even rose on its hind legs in an apparent bid to reach Sai Kumar.
“It was the feeding time for the lions. Manohar had his last meal of 6 kg beef on Monday around the same time and was waiting for his lunch,” a zoo official said.
Incidentally, the same lions’ enclosure was also the scene of a similar, but much more dangerous incident back in 2016 when a 35-year-old man, Mahesh, who was working then with the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited, jumped into the moat inside the enclosure. Mahesh, who was drunk at that time, said he wanted to shake hands with the lions.
Manohar was born to two African lions in the enclosure that day in May of 2016, Kishan and Radhika. The African lion pair was gifted to the city zoo by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar Bin Saud bin Mohammed Al Saud in 2013.
Preliminary inquiries by the zoo officials revealed that Sai Kumar was speaking incoherently and claimed that precious gems and pearls could be found at places where lions lived. “At one point of time, he told us that he wanted to collect gems and pearls, and then go buy a car with them,” zoo curator Rajasekhar, told this newspaper.
He said Sai Kumar was carrying with him some clothes, and a few books along with sketch pens and that he had entered the zoo alone. “After questioning him, we handed him over to the Bahadurpura Police for further action and lodged a complaint with the police”, the zoo curator said.
Police Inspector of Bahadurpura D. Durga Prasad said Sai Kumar hailed from Ghatkesar. The police official said Sai Kumar claimed he did not have any family. “We sent a constable along with him to verify the information he gave us,” he said.
