NEW DELHI //A white tiger attacked and killed a youth who apparently jumped into its enclosure at the New Delhi zoo on Tuesday.
Witnesses said the tiger grabbed the young man by the neck as horrified onlookers at the National Zoological Park screamed and threw sticks and stones to try to save him.
One witness said he raced to the enclosure after hearing screams to see the victim locked in the tiger’s jaws, “writhing badly in pain”.
“He kept suffering for the next 10 to 15 minutes, but nobody helped him,” said Himanshu, who only gave one name.
A guard at the enclosure raised the alarm, but the victim was dead before anything could be done.
“We do have tranquilising guns but they are at the zoo hospital. By the time we could have organised those, he was killed,” said the zoo director, Amitabh Agnihotri.
Witnesses had said the railings around the tiger enclosure were low and speculated that the victim may have fallen in.
But Mr Agnihotri defended the zoo.
“There are guards there. If we increase the height of the fencing, how will people be able to look at the animal?” he said.
The zoo said the victim was about 20 years old, contradicting earlier reports that he was a teenager.
One official said he also appeared to have been “under the influence of alcohol”.
“Security had tried to keep him away from the enclosure, but he somehow managed to jump in and the white tiger who was present at the enclosure leapt on to him,” said an official, Rohit Kumar.
“This is the first time such an incident has occurred in this enclosure.”
Photos posted online of the attack showed the tiger standing over the victim, who was lying on the grass curled into a ball and trying to protect his head with his hands.
The tiger was eventually taken away and locked up.
The enclosure is separated from visitors by a concrete ditch, with shrubs on the tiger’s side followed by a 60-centimetre railing.
The zoo has three white tigers, although only one of them is let out into the enclosure daily for visitors to see.
White tigers are found in southern and eastern Asia, particularly India, and are regarded as an endangered species.
India is home to fewer than 100 white tigers, according to the last census in 2011. * Agence France-Presse
