Two mauled to death in India by captive tigers

December 17, 2000
Web posted at: 8:14 AM HKT (0014 GMT)

CALCUTTA, India (Reuters) -- A circus artiste and an unknown man have been mauled to death by tigers in two separate incidents in the Indian state of West Bengal.

The unidentified 30-year-old man was drunk when he jumped over a fence into an open-air tiger enclosure in Calcutta's Alipur zoo, director A.K. Das told reporters. He succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

The Press Trust of India (PTI) said the tiger had felled him with one blow of its paw in full view of horrified visitors.

"It appears to be a case of suicide," Das said.

Police began an investigation into whether zoo staff might have been negligent and whether security standards had been observed.

"We will look into whether they had learnt from the 1996 incident when a man died in a similar manner and taken steps to prevent these things from happening," deputy commissioner Z. Hasan said.

A 20-year-old female circus artiste was mauled to death late on Friday by three tigers during a show in West Bengal's Howrah district, PTI reported.

Rita Chhetri was attacked during an act in which nine tigers were required to jump over her and then pass through a ring.

One of the tigers pounced on her and two others joined in.

Chhetri died on the way to hospital.

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