A 38-year-old man in India was mauled to death after jumping into the lion enclosure in Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park to take a selfie with the animal.

Climbed fence to enter enclosure

Prahlad Gujjar, a driver from Rajastan in northern India, had sneaked into the no-entry area near the lion's enclosure at about 2:30pm local time, police inspector Thameen Ahmeh told the Times of India.

He then scaled an approximately 1.2m-tall safety wall and 1.8m-tall fence to enter the lion's enclosure despite a zookeeper shouting at him to stop.

He appeared to be drunk, and tried to pose for a selfie with the feline.

The 12-year-old lion, named Dongalpur, then attacked the man, dragging him into a corner of the enclosure and mauling him to death within 10 minutes, Times of India reported.

Man dares lion for a selfie, jumps into enclosure, gets mauled.

40-year-old Prahlad Gujjar jumped into a lion enclosure for a selfie in Tirupati SV Zoo park. He also behaved in a way to provoke the lion. After the lion attacked him, he made an in vain attempt to save himself by… pic.twitter.com/4vWaRNkSZM

— Sudhakar Udumula (@sudhakarudumula) February 15, 2024

Zoo officials said that the lion was shifted out of the enclosure so that zookeepers could retrieve the badly injured body.

Gujjar's body was sent to a government hospital for a post mortem. It was speculated that he died from excessive bleeding, Times of India wrote.

He was identified via his belongings.

The Daily Mail reported that the authorities are currently looking into whether Gujjar was inebriated at the time of the incident.

Gujjar visited the zoo alone. His family has been informed of the incident, said the police inspector.

Dongalpur has since been moved into a cage and is being kept under observation.

Zoo curator C Selvam said that the zoo will take further precautions to prevent such incidents from reoccurring.

"We will once again review the security measures to prevent such incidents in the future," he added.

Top photo via sudhakarudumula / X