Lioness mauls gatekeeper at Mumbai's national park

A lioness mauled to death a gatekeeper at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in northern Mumbai on Tueday evening.

The incident happened when the gatekeeper had opened the gates to allow the a bus to exit. The lioness sneaked up behind the bus, unseen by other employees of the park. According to P N Munde conservator of forests, the lioness came out of the gate and attacked the gatekeeper who has been identified as 40 year old Harishchandra Gembal.

After killing him the lioness grabbed the body and fled into her enclosure inside the safari. Attempts by forest officials to retrieve the body were foiled as the lioness refused to let go the body. When the forest officials had successfully tranquilized the lioness, another lion took hold of the body. It took three hours for the forest officials to retrieve the body as the second lion also had to be tranquilized.