The tigress mauled the zoo attendant when he entered her cage to clean the pond (Representational)
A 35-year-old zoo attendant was mauled to death by a Royal Bengal tigress at the Biological Park in Arunachal Pradesh's Itanagar, an official said.
Poulash Karmakar, a native of Dhekiajuli in Assam's Lakhimpur district was killed by the tigress when he was entering her cage to clean the water pond on Tuesday, zoo curator Raya Flago said.
"The incident happened at around 2:30 pm on Tuesday. I was informed of the incident by one of our animal attendants. When I reached the zoo along with a doctor and other staff, Poulash Karmakar was already dead. He was found bleeding from the face," Mr Flago said.
"There are three gates that lead to the cage and all of them were left open. We are assuming that this led to the tigress attacking the zoo attendant," Mr Flago said, adding that a police investigation has been launched in the case.
Itanagar Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Kamdam Sikom informed that a case of unnatural death has been filed and the body had been sent for a forensic test at RK Mission Hospital.
"Police did not see anything suspicious and it seems to be a case of negligence as per preliminary investigation," Mr Sikom said, adding that the body would be handed over to the family members today after the forensic test.
'Chippi' the Royal Bengal tigress, who mauled Poulash Karmakar to death was rescued as an orphan along with another 'Ipra' when they were around eight months old from Anini in Dibang Valley district. They were moved to the Biological Park in Itanagar in 2013 and have been staying in the zoo since then.
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