Probe launched in to the escape of Bengal tiger from Hyderabad zoo enclosure

Hyderabad: A day after the escape of a Bengal tiger from its enclosure in Hyderabad’s Nehru Zoological park, senior officials of Telangana forest department launched a probe to establish the cause of the incident.

State Principal Conservator of forests PK Sharma, who along with other officials visited the park, said action will be taken against the staff members found guilty of negligence.

Hundreds of visitors including children had to run for their lives on a busy Saturday afternoon when the tiger escaped from the enclosure and zookeepers raised an alarm by blowing whistles.

After a two-hour operation, conducted by the security and veterinary staff, the animal was tranquillised and shifted to a secure enclosure where it is recovering. The male tiger, Kadam, which was brought to Hyderabad from Mangalore five months ago for breeding purposes, was being shifted from his regular enclosure to the breeding enclosure when it managed to escape.

“How such a big tiger was able to scale the barriers and come out in an open area?” the officials asked staff members of the zoo.

While employees said that there was no roof above the newly built breeding enclosure and the tiger jumped out of the enclosure, officials ruled out such a possibility, pointing out that the weight of the animal was a whopping 250kg and it was impossible for it to scale a barrier of more than three metres.