Bahawalpur zoo shut

Tigers attack man identified as a history sheeter, drug addict

LAHORE:

A zoo in Bahawalpur has been shut down after a man was mauled to death by tigers in an attack discovered during routine cleaning, officials said Thursday.

The body was found on Wednesday morning in Bahawalpur's Sherbagh Zoo in the eastern province of Punjab after staff spotted one of the three tigers with a shoe in its mouth.

"The zoo is closed right now as we determine how the man got in," Ali Usman Bukhari, a senior officer of the province's wildlife department, which operates the zoo.

The condition of the body suggests the attack happened late Tuesday night.

"The autopsy report has not been released, however evidence gathered from the enclosure points towards him being alive when he was attacked by the tigers," Bukhari said.

"The tigers did not go out of the den to attack the man, he jumped into their enclosure," he said. "If we find a security lapse, we will address it. If need be, we will hire private security guards."

Speaking to media outside the zoo after the body was discovered on Wednesday, senior local government official Zaheer Anwar said all staff had been accounted for.

Read Zoo intruder mauled to death by tigers

"Our assessment so far is that this appears to be a lunatic, because a sensible person would not jump into the den," he said.

"You can see the den is secured. There are stairs behind the den, maybe he jumped from there."

The three tigers present in the den when the body was discovered have been restricted to a smaller space while evidence is collected.

The zoo was built in 1942 by the ruling royal family of the former princely state of Bahawalpur and costs adults Rs50 to enter.

New details have emerged regarding the death of a citizen in a tiger attack at Bahawalpur Zoo on Wednesday. The victim has been identified as Muhammad Bilawal Javed and turned out to be a police record holder.

DC Bahawalpur Zaheer Anwar informed the media on Thursday that a service card was found in the clothes of the deceased person, identifying him as Green Town resident Bilawal Javed. The victim has a criminal record and has been challaned in three cases.

In this regard, Bahawalpur police have also contacted Lahore police, while the Bahawalpur district administration has contacted the victim’s father, who left for Bahawalpur. Bilawal's father said that the victim was addicted to drugs. On the other hand, the post-mortem and forensic reports have not come to light, yet.

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Wildlife Deputy Director Usman Bukhari informed The Express Tribune that Bilawal’s entry to the zoo remains a mystery and so far, he has not appeared in CCTV footage. He added that the victim may have entered the zoo by jumping over the wall, but how he got into tigers’ enclosure remains unknown.

Commissioner Bahawalpur has formed a five-member fact-finding committee to probe the incident. After a detailed assessment of the break in, the victim’s motivation and security flaws, the committee will submit a short report within 24 hours and a more detailed report in 7 days.

Four tigers attacked and mauled a citizen to death in Bahawalpur Zoo on Wednesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2023.