Man mauled to death by a lion after climbing into its enclosure to take selfie with it

A man has died after scaling a zoo fence in an apparent attempt to take a selfie with a lion, which then killed him.

Prahlad Gujjar, 38, was quickly set upon by a lion after hopping into an enclosure after he decided he wanted to take a selfie with the animal.

He climbed over a 25ft high fence in order to get close to the lion and he had successfully hopped over before the staff had time to react.

Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park

The incident happened on Thursday at the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Staff had previously warned Gujjar from getting too close to the enclosure before he had hopped over, reportedly with the intention of taking a selfie.

Authorities have confirmed that they are conducting a post-mortem on the body to identify whether alcohol or drugs played a role in the Gujjar’s decision to scale the fence.

Local police have confirmed that when he was in the zoo he was alone and are now in the process of trying to contact his family.

The lion that attacked him was identified as Dongalpur and he has now been moved to a cage following the attack where he is under observation. The zoo also has two other lions, called Kumar and Sundari.

UNILAD has contacted the zoo for comment.

While it seems self explanatory why you shouldn't get too close to one of the world’s largest cats, similar incidents have happened before.

In 2022, in Ghana a group of lions killed a man who scaled the fence into a lion enclosure.

The intruder was said to have scaled a 10-foot fence and a further 20-foot fence to enter the enclosure at the Accra Zoo.

Inside the enclosure was one lion, a lioness, and their two cubs, which had been a huge draw to the public since their birth as they were born with leucism, which makes their fur appear white.

Getty Stock Image

At the time, the man was not identified but he was described as being middle aged.

He was also suspected of attempting to steal the white lion cubs, but was subsequently attacked and died from his injuries.

A statement was released by the zoo that said: "Around 12:00 hours today 28th August 2022, officials of the Accra Zoo on a routine patrol, noticed a middle aged man (an intruder) had jumped the security fences and entered the lions' enclosure of the zoo."

Zoo authorities said they successfully coaxed the lions into a secure hold so police could commence their investigation.

The commission confirmed that the lion, lioness, and two cubs remained secure in the zoo and that no lion had escaped.

Topics: Animals, World News

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.