Tragic reminder the unexpected does happen – sometimes with brutal consequences
By Alec Hogg
It's the stuff of nightmares. A young man slips over the railing and falls six metres into the tiger's enclosure at the zoo. The cat ambles over and for the next 15 minutes stares at the cowering human. Zoo management is unable to do anything, they have no weapons nor tranquilizers at hand. The crowd screams and throws sticks at the tiger in an attempt to distract it. The animal tires of the attention, grabs the hapless human by the throat and shakes him like a rag. He writhes in agony, eventually dying.
This happened at the New Delhi zoo on Tuesday. An establishment where management, quite obviously, is lax. Media reports say it is common for visitors to tease the animals, spit on them and throw projectiles to get some kind of reaction. We will never know whether years of torment made the tiger act the way it did. But it's a reminder the unexpected does happen. Power bases which appear impregnable, sometimes slip. And the consequences can be brutal.
Yesterday's top stories: