Shoe in Big Cat’s mouth raises suspicion, dead man found in Pakistan zoo

A man’s lifeless body was discovered inside a big cat enclosure during routine cleaning by zoo staff on Wednesday (Dec 6) at Sherbagh Zoo in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. The grim incident came to light when employees noticed a shoe in the mouth of one of the big cats. Forensic experts were called in to examine the body as it remains unclear who the individual was.

Zaheer Anwar, a senior government official in Bahawalpur, reportedly revealed, “When they cleaned the zoo and the dens, they found the (animal) holding a shoe in its mouth. The staff got suspicious, and then they found a body inside the den.”

Anwar described the big cat, using a term in Pakistan that encompasses both tigers and leopards, both of which are housed in the zoo.

Expressing the assessment by the staff, Anwar suggested, “this appears to be a lunatic, because a sensible person would not jump into the den. You can see that the den is secured. There are stairs behind the den; maybe he jumped from there.”

Zafarullah from the rescue service 1122 in Bahawalpur shared that the victim’s legs had suffered severe mauling. He remarked, “It is yet not known who he is and how he got there. It is being investigated. The body looked several hours old.”

Operated by Punjab’s wildlife department, the zoo features a variety of wildlife and charges a nominal fee of 18 cents for adult entry. The website mentions the presence of lions, tigers, and hyenas in modern moated enclosures.

Notably, in 2000, a different zoo in Pakistan made headlines when the remains of a missing teenage boy were discovered in the lion enclosure. 

In a separate August incident, residents of Karachi were shocked as they witnessed a young lion leisurely strolling along a bustling street following its escape from a vehicle during transportation, as reported by Geo News. 

A video that gained widespread attention on social media in August depicted the lion roaming on Sharea Faisal, amidst the flow of cars and pedestrians.