Schoolboy mauled to death by tiger in Indian zoo

A white tiger mauled a student to death after he fell into its enclosure in a New Delhi zoo at around 1.30pm on Sept 23.

According to news reports, the barricade of the tiger enclosure was low and the youth accidentally slipped and fell into a dry moat inside the tiger's enclosure.

The victim identified as Maqsood, thought to be about 20 years old was taking photos of the tiger when he fell into the enclosure.

Eyewitnesses say that the tiger approached the victim, occasionally sniffing and pawing at him, but didn't attack the youth for at least 15 minutes.

But it kept its eyes on the student and stood at a distance of nearly one feet away from him during the time.

During this time, the victim who was curled against the enclosure wall in front of the tiger, and pleading for mercy by folding his hands.

However, the tiger attacked the youth after someone from the crowd threw a stone at it.

At which point, it swiped at the victim and injured his neck. The beast then carried the youth away and killed him.

According to some eyewitnesses, security guards at the zoo could do nothing to help the youth as they did not have any tranquilizer guns.

They also mentioned that the guards threw sticks and stones at the tiger but to no avail.

Zoo workers later had to push the angry white tiger into a safety cage using sticks.

Police and zoo personnel then removed the mutilated body from the enclosure two hours after the incident.

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