A labourer, in an inebriated state, jumped into a lion enclosure at a zoo in Hyderabad, but miraculously survived.
The man was heard singing “Please come to me, my darling,” to the lion. Mukesh Kumar (35) a migrant labour working at an underground metro construction site was on a visit to Nehru Zoo Park with a couple of his friends on Sunday evening.
Having consumed alcohol before the visit, Mukesh inexplicably leapt into the moat surrounding the lions enclosure, located 12 feet beneath the viewing platform. His sudden jump and loud noise of the splash created havoc among the visitors. While they frantically tried to tell him to stay put, a drunk Mukesh waded towards the big cats - Krishna and Radhika - who began pacing on the edge of the water body. Eye-witnesses and police say the drunken man then began requesting the lions shake hands with him.
However, before the lionesses could come closer to him, shrieks of visitors raised the alarm and zoo keepers lowered a long pole so he could climb out. The whole incident lasted for 15 minutes and was captured by panicked visitors on mobile phones. Mukesh was then spent the night in police custody facing charges under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act.
(With inputs from AP/Caters News)
(Video Editor: Sashant Kumar)
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