In a tragic incident, a two-year-old boy in Hyderabad died after he was hit by a battery-operated vehicle at the premises of the city’s Nehru Zoological Park on Tuesday. Despite rushing him to a local hospital for treatment, he succumbed to his injuries.
The police said that the boy was identified as a resident of Vidyanagar, and he succumbed to his injuries at the Princess Durru Shehvar Hospital.
“While returning to the main gate after seeing the animals, the boy accompanied by his siblings, mother and few other relatives, was playing on the road near the elephant enclosure when a battery-operated vehicle hit him. He fell and sustained internal injuries,” Additional Inspector Bahadurpura, A Shiva Kumar was quoted as saying.
The body of the boy was handed over to the family after an autopsy was conducted. The Bahadupura police said that a case had been registered against the driver of the vehicle, who has been detained. The administration of the zoo is yet to respond to the incident.
While such incidents in the zoo are rare, there have been cases of people losing their lives after they enter enclosures which are restricted to the public.
In 2016, a 16-year-old resident of Ziyaguda in Hyderabad died in a tragic incident when he was trying to climb the rock waterfall in Butterfly park for a selfie.
At the time, zoo officials said that they would increase the security around the area to ensure that people don’t go inside restricted areas.
The Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad was opened to the public in the year 1963 and was one of the largest zoos in the country.
“The Zoo has many initiations to its credit; the first Safari Park in the country in the year 1974, Nocturnal Animal house in the year 1982 and Open Butterfly Park in the year 1998. In the year 2013, the zoo celebrated its 50th Golden Jubilee celebrations. In 2014, after the formation of Telangana state, the zoo has 155 species and 1,550 specimens,” the official website of the zoo states.