A young man identified as Maqsod has been killed by a tiger after climbing over a fence into an animal enclosure at the New Delhi Zoo.The man who was said to be drunk was warned severally by zoo officials not to go close ,but he ignored the warnings and jumped over ,coming face to face with the tiger who appeared initially surprised on seeing the human intrusion.

An eyewitness told AFP

“As soon as the youth slipped and fell into the moat, the tiger approached him and silently watched him for nearly 15 minutes

He said what possibly provoked the tiger to attack the man was when onlookers and a guard tried to divert its attention by pelting stones at it.

Everyone was pelting stones and making noises to divert the tiger’s attention, “It was then that the tiger pounced on the youth with his paw and dragged him inside his enclosure by his neck,”

Another eyewitness Himanshu said: 

“The man was cowering in fear and appeared to be pleading with folded hands to the tiger to spare him. 

But National Zoological Park curator R.A. Khan told IANS that the youth himself jumped into the tigerÂ’s enclosure.“The tiger was later locked up,” Khan said.