BAHAWALPUR: A lioness being pestered by a group of students at the local zoo on Wednesday attacked one of them, causing injury to his foot.

According to zoo staffers, a group of 10 students of a local school who were on a visit to the zoo on their own started teasing the lioness by inserting sticks into her cage through the iron bars.

The lioness became enraged by their persistent pestering and when one of the students -- later identified as Muhammad Naseab, son of Muhammad Rafiq, a resident of Basti Raidan, tried to touch the lioness with his left foot, she took in her jaws the toe of his boot.

The witnesses said the bite was so powerful that it injured the 15-year-old boy’s foot fingers and the adjoining area, tearing away the upper part of the shoe.

The boy raised hue and cry, getting attention of other visitors and the zoo staff, including curator Naveed Tariq.

“I was sitting in my office when I heard screams. I immediately came out to find the boy crying in pain. His foot was injured,” he told Dawn.

He said he called Rescue 1122 emergency service, and got the boy shifted to the emergency ward of Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH) for treatment.

He said the zoo staffers told him they had warned the boys against teasing the lioness and going too close but they paid no heed.

However, he said, on hearing his screams the staffers rushed to the scene and rescued the boy who had turned pale with fear.

District Emergency Officer, Rescue 1122, Dr Malik Muhammad Asif Channar said after the incident, he reviewed the the safety measures, especially around the cages of lions and bears and issued necessary instructions for taking more steps for visitors’ protection.

He said it was first such incident at the zoo in which a beast had injured a visitor.

According to Rescue 1122 personnel, the injured boy was discharged from BVH emergency after provision of medical treatment.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2015

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