An absolute nightmare just played out a few days ago, a man in his late teens fell or jumped or was pushed into a White Tiger enclosure which was occupied by a full grown male White Tiger who did the obvious. Why or how would a man end up in the enclosure is beyond me, and I am sure competent officers of the Delhi Police Force will get to its bottom.
The one and only piece of this deeply disturbing incidence is what happened next. There will be critical analysis done by experts, but I would rather apply common sense, known animal behaviours and psychology. So here is my analysis of this incidence.
Facts: The White Tiger (WT)
1. Born in a Zoo, the WT was bought up on cut meat, and is not aware of where the meat comes from.
2. The WT is a fully grown Male.
3. The WT has handlers or feeders who wear half sleeve shirts and are dark skinned. They have a peculiar odour and also a behavioural relationship with the WT.
4. The WT had spent an unnatural amount of time with his Mother who was spared of hunting duty and had helped him master the art of being a predator to some degree through play.
5. He fears none, and is still a curious cat.
Facts: The Victim (Maqsood)
1. Physically fit and young human being on the cusp of adulthood.
2. Could use ALL five human senses.
3. From an impoverished background, and socially dispensible.
4. Was not educated to think, having shared the Indian Education System.
5. Mentally challenged to the extent of being the only person to land in a Tiger compound involuntarily.
What Happened - Tiger Perspective
A form the WT was familiar with has breached into his territory, which has never happened before. Fact#5 of WTcompels him to investigate. What he discovers is neither a threat nor interesting, so he staggers his action and awaits a stimulus. At this point the Man sits down bringing his face closer to the WT. Bad Move. The WT was by now assured of his own safety in the presence of this form, and still awaiting stimulus. The loud shouts of bystanders are immaterial to him, he hears them all the time, and his brain has learnt to block them effectively. Then suddenly he hears a familiar voice pattern, which is coming from a guard calling his name, "Vijay". With a flash he looks towards the source of this voice pattern, but he sees no meat waiting or nothing that would continue to hold his attention, neither a threat nor a reward. At this point, the WT looks up at the other source of sound thats being made around him. Now THIS look is whta yours truly has experienced from a distance of two feet. No kidding, a cold stare from an fully grown adult male WT, and I could tell, there is a complex SWOT analysis being crunched behind that eye of the tiger. Ofcourse, I was in a well protected bus, but it wasnt the most comfortable sights in my life. Anyway, back to our WT, he has noticed the source of sounds and the fact that now he hears / feels some sticks and stones falling near him. That meanst two stimuli presented themselves simultaneously, a) continuance of curiosity cannot happen at the current location and b) threat of injury. At this point, the WT decided to take action and as a boxer got his paws to test his opponent, whenthe opponent did not present any threat, the WT set about with his reponse to the above stimuli. Fact#4 & Fact#2 meant he knew how to deal with the situation and although it took him an extra attempt, he executed a neck hold and dragged his victim to an area where he could continue his experience of exploring the form. The form was leaking blood, and was lifeless, which given the Fact#1 meant boring. So as with any other act of any living being, the WT continued with his act of attempting to achieve some interest out of this form, but his efforts were not successful.
Based on the above it can be safely concluded that:
1. The victim had ruptured his jugulars, and that would mean brain death in seconds.
2. There would have been no bite mark apart from the neck region, as I doubt the tiger had attempted to open his victim owing to Fact#1.
3. Victim had severe internal bleeding as the heart likely beat much beyond his brain death.
What Happened - Victim Perspective
After the fall, Maqsood was bruised, hurt or even likely fractured. The pain left him numb to the extent of being unable to relate to his situation as pre-death. At this point, he had adopted a hopeful stance that there was likelihood of him being saved. He was standing and must have started discussing his situation with his fellow visitors, when he was suddenly warned about the approachin WT. This changed everything. The WT is a sight that must have made him want to relieve, and instinctively he sat down. His Peripheral NS was giving a natural response to grave and sudden threat. He was mentally unstable, but he was still a product of 20 million years of natural selection, and had a 100% chance of survival. But, that was subservient to his next actions, rather his lack of actions tha rapidly brought down his survival chance to zero very very rapidly.
1. Speech: With a 20-20k Hz sound range his vocal chords were capable of creating a series of sounds that would have irritated even saved him from a WT. He did not seem to want to use this tool at all.
2. Opposable thumb: The reason why Man became the zoo maker and WT landed in it was completely forgotten at this point. The man had various objects around him, on him but he chose to not use them at all. Instead, he began pleading and begging...a futile attempt to beileve that "the WT was a grave threat but humanized"
3. Adrenaline: A hormone that is released in bloodstream to assist in sudden and forceful utilization of muscle power. This was never given a chance due to the submissive approach taken by the victim.
Now, Maqsood was fully relying on fate having consistently breathed for all his life, he had no reason to believe it would stop, suddenly. This lack of escalation led him to his fallacy of belief that he will live. He must have felt the sharp teeth penetrate his skin, and crack his vertebrae, but at that point his brain took over and led him to a split second sense of calmness and security, and that was the brains last action. There onwards, the body was more or less running on the AutonomousNS, which leave the organs in the same state of activity for a little while more longer. Death had occurred as soon as the brain was short circuted due to a massive injury to its blood supply and its structural integrity. Maqsood had passed the point of no return, and his body was about to be subjected to more brutality. Multiple fractures to his lower limbs were occurring from being thrashed over steps of the moat and organs dislocated due to rupturing of the supporting tissues. The heart stopped as soon as his lungs were ruptured and cut blood supply to his heart muscles.
Ideal Response: Maqsood
1. Keep standing, and initiate an attempt to make physical contact through charging or rapid movements of the hand. A cat or any animal will instinctively attempt defence, which means he/she is on the backfoot.
2. Make weird noises like hissing or that of a monkey with a view of showing aggresive posturing making the WT believe there is little to be gained by being curious and forcing a retreat to protect.
3. Remove the shirt, and if possible wrine soaked pant and furl it over his head. This gives the WT a target to focus his curiosity towards.
4. Curse the hell out of the WT with the choicest abuses, which puts into perspective the hatred toward his nemesis.
5. Maintain eye contact, even squirm and squint to make the WT think, this is an aggresive form and best left alone. Would the WT been provoked beyond panicking? No! The WT fears no one, and does not know how to react in situations of fear.
Ideal Response: Bystanders
1. There were atleast about 30-35, so there were about 60-70 missiles which each had on their feet. A steady barrage of shoes, slippers and sandals would have definately made the tiger leave the vicinity of the victim.
2. Clothes, especially jeans when tied into a knot, would have made for an awesome defence of Maqsood. Any footwear / clothes landing near Maqsood would have given him a weapon that his opposable thumb given an advantage over.
3. Praveen, the guard, had a baton. Was it very intelligent ask of him, to think about passing it to Maqsood? That Praveen had warned Maqsood about going close to the barriers probably influenced his decision not to do so. But I would hold the guard accountable for THIS lack of action. The very weapon Maqsood needed was not provided to him by the very person entrusted to do so.
4. Belongings. Do mobiles, cams, bags, baskets and other personal artifacts carry a higher value than a human life at risk? Fact#3 of Maqsood went against him. He was likely deemed dispensible by the crowd, else what else explains them valuing their belongings over a human life?
5. Just 4 men or women with the ability to think beyond the obvious was needed, as they couldve jumped behind Maqsood, and matched the 3 weapons that the WT possessed, its jaw, and two fore arms.
Final Word:
As a nation, we have given into the devaluation of human life, instead we should build a small monument rembering the breach of trust one of us suffered in face of grave danger, while also ensuring that his loss does not impact his family economically. Else, we bear the same sickness shown by the bystanders and will have blood on our hands, and that blood shall be the collective blood of our society.
