Man who wanted to “shake hands with lions” arrested!

Hyderabad: After an incident that took place in a Chilean zoo in Santiago on Saturday, where two lions were killed to save an apparently suicidal man, another man was sent to jail for slipping inside the lion's enclosure at Jawaharlal Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad, “to shake hands with the lions”.

The man in question, a labourer who hails from Rajasthan, claims that he had come to Hyderabad a few weeks ago.

During investigation, the police revealed that the man was in an inebriated state when he jumped into the lion's pen.

Police registered a case against Mukesh Kumar, 35, under the Indian Penal Code and the Wildlife (Protection) Act and produced him before a local court, which sent him to jail

Zoo authorities came under criticism for loose security system prevailing in the zoo with at least six instances of youths going close to the animals for selfies with them or animals jumping out of their enclosures in the recent past. A youth was allowed to touch and play with a tiger cub three months ago, allegedly after he had managed to bribe the guards there.

(With IANS inputs)