Lion safari opens after 11 days
Barinderjit Saluja | TNN | Feb 3, 2019, 07:40 IST
The lion safari was closed since two lions mauled a man to death after he jumped into the enclosure at Chhatbir zoo on January 20.MOHALI: The Chhatbir zoo authorities on Saturday opened the lion safari for the public 11 days after a pair of lions had mauled a 35-year-old man to death who had entered the safari after scaling the boundary wall from the Ghaggar river side on January 20.
Zoo field director M Sudhagar said, “The safari was thrown open for public after ensuring security for animals as well as visitors. On Saturday afternoon, around 300 visitors, including guides, were allowed in the lion safari as a trial. After the successful trial, it was decided that from Sunday onwards safari will be opened as usual.”
Sudhagar said, “We have covered the wire-mesh to block the view from outside. Now, people passing from Ghaggar river side will not have any eye contact with animals. Deer safari will also be secured with blind cover so that no such incident of human-animal conflict occurs in future.”
The incident had proved that the lion safari fencing was inadequate to curb human intrusion and made lions vulnerable to gunshots. People could be face-to-face with lions roaming inside the safari as the security wall was made of wire-mesh having openings wide enough for anybody to make animals a soft target.
Sudhagar said as far as security of visitors is concerned, the zoo is fully-equipped. The buses taking visitors inside the safari do not have windows that can open and is surrounded by iron rods. He said, “The bus has one driver and an attendant who are very much trained to handle visitors to keep them secure during the visit. To further secure the area, we have plans of installing CCTV cameras along lion as well as deer safaris.”
The man who was killed by lions was a patient of depression and a father of two children. He had been identified as Jata Shanker, a resident of Motipur in Uttar Pradesh. He had come to pay a visit to his nephew residing in Baltana in Zirakpur but day sneaked into the lion safari.
Zoo field director M Sudhagar said, “The safari was thrown open for public after ensuring security for animals as well as visitors. On Saturday afternoon, around 300 visitors, including guides, were allowed in the lion safari as a trial. After the successful trial, it was decided that from Sunday onwards safari will be opened as usual.”
Sudhagar said, “We have covered the wire-mesh to block the view from outside. Now, people passing from Ghaggar river side will not have any eye contact with animals. Deer safari will also be secured with blind cover so that no such incident of human-animal conflict occurs in future.”
The incident had proved that the lion safari fencing was inadequate to curb human intrusion and made lions vulnerable to gunshots. People could be face-to-face with lions roaming inside the safari as the security wall was made of wire-mesh having openings wide enough for anybody to make animals a soft target.
Sudhagar said as far as security of visitors is concerned, the zoo is fully-equipped. The buses taking visitors inside the safari do not have windows that can open and is surrounded by iron rods. He said, “The bus has one driver and an attendant who are very much trained to handle visitors to keep them secure during the visit. To further secure the area, we have plans of installing CCTV cameras along lion as well as deer safaris.”
The man who was killed by lions was a patient of depression and a father of two children. He had been identified as Jata Shanker, a resident of Motipur in Uttar Pradesh. He had come to pay a visit to his nephew residing in Baltana in Zirakpur but day sneaked into the lion safari.
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