Zookeeper Dies in Elephant Attack at Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: A 23-year-old animal keeper, Mohd. Shahbaz, died on Saturday after he was attacked by an elephant at the Nehru Zoological Park. Zoo officials said the incident took place when Shahbaz entered the elephant enclosure for cleaning.

It was the first incident of a zookeeper being fatally attacked by an animal at the zoo. Officials said Shahbaz was thrown aside by the elephant, following which other staff managed to rescue him and rushed him to a private hospital, where he was declared dead.

It was learnt that the elephant was known for its occasional rogue behaviour and about a month ago, broke its chain and had to be sedated before it could be tethered back in its enclosure. Although zoo officials said the elephant was not in ‘musth’ — a period when bull elephants have increased levels of reproductive hormones resulting in restless, energetic and unpredictable behaviour — sources in the zoo said the elephant experienced the condition recently.

The elephant, a male, was caught in the Tirumala hills in 1994, named Vijay and sent to the Nehru Zoological Park four years later, after it broke one of its tusks at the Tirupati zoo. “It took a year to treat it as it needed root canal treatment after it developed an infection,” Dr Naveen Kumar, the then veterinarian at the Hyderabad zoo, said.

The elephant was around 13 years old when it was caught and is now around 42 years old. It is one of four Asian elephants in the zoo.

A senior veterinary officer said, “These animals are unpredictable as they have been captured from the wild. Their behaviour changes depending on various aspects like climate, when the females are in heat or any disturbance.”

According to zoo officials, Shahbaz was experienced in working with elephants, but he was designated to take care of the aviary section.

The Bahadurpura police said they registered a case, sent the body to Osmania General Hospital for a post-mortem examination and are checking the CCTV footage to ascertain the chain of events. The zoo, in a release, expressed deep condolences and grief over Shahbaz’s death that came a day after it celebrated its diamond jubilee.