Rhino mauls man to death in Lucknow zoo

Lucknow, Oct 14 (UNI) In a bizzare incident, a 32-year-old man who had entered the enclosure of a rhino to collect a kite was mauled to death by the animal.

This is the second such case in more than a decade.

The authorities at Lucknow zoological park were informed last night that a man from the neighbouring Narhi area had entered the zoo to pick up a kite which landed inside. When Vinod (32) did not return, the zoo authorities and local people mounted a search.

While last night they were unable to trace the man, this morning the zoo-keepers found Vinod's wounded body inside the rhino's enclousure. ''Prima facie, he was killed by the beast,'' said a zoo official. Incidentally, the same rhino had killed a zoo vet in 1996.

Meanwhile, state Forest and Wildlife minister Kunwar Fateh Bahadur Singh has ordered a probe into the security lapses at the zoological gardens.

UNI