Panic reigned for a couple of hours on Saturday morning after a Royal Bengal tigress and her cub slunk out of their enclosure in the Assam State Zoo.
The incident has been attributed to ‘human error’. Two cage-cleaners had left the tiger enclosure unlocked.
Zoo officials heaved a sigh of relief when Divya, the eight-year-old tigress — it had tasted human blood three years ago — was tranquillized 400 metres from its enclosure.
The one-and-half-year-old cub was also tranquillized.
The zoo, spread across 175 hectares, had an estimated 10,000 visitors on its premises when the two tigers walked off for their day out.
“We immediately evacuated the visitors. But tranquillization took close to two hours,” zoo official Narayan Mahanta told Hindustan Times.
“The two cleaners were disinfecting the cages, and they forgot to close the exit on their way out,” Mahanta said.
Divya had devoured the hand of a visitor to the zoo, Prakash Bezbaruah, in December 2007. A male tiger had yanked it off when Bezbaruah stuck his hand into their enclosure for a photo. He died of excessive bleeding.
Guwahati was lucky. In a tragic mishap in Haryana’s Bhiwani town, a tiger mauled a zoo employee on Friday evening.
{{/usCountry}}Guwahati was lucky. In a tragic mishap in Haryana’s Bhiwani town, a tiger mauled a zoo employee on Friday evening.
{{/usCountry}}Mahavir Singh reportedly forgot to lock the cage after keeping meat for the big cat.
As Singh turned to come out after placing the meat, a tiger dragged him back into the cage and killed him.