A boozed-up bloke who jumped into a zoo's lion enclosure with the intention of "shaking hands" with the big cats sang "come to me my darling" as he came face to face with them.
Guests at the zoo can be heard screaming in horror as they watch the man dive into a moat around the lion cage, then make his way through the water to the beasts awaiting him on the land.
The then 35-year-old was visiting Nehru Zoo Park in Hyderabad, India, with friends and before the 2016 incident they had been drinking alcohol.
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Mukesh Kumar then spotted the lions and decided to take the 12ft plunge into the water of the enclosure – with onlookers terrified and gasping at the shocking scenes.
In the video, Kumar is heard singing: "Please come to me my darling", with police later confirming he wanted to "shake hands" with big cats Krishna and Radhika, reports the Mirror.
The lions seem fairly uninterested luckily for Kumar despite him coming face to face with them and reaching out his arms.
Zoo keepers then come to the rescue, throwing down a pole for Kumar to hold on to and be pulled up.
"The lioness Radhika was inside the enclosure but the person was rescued unhurt by its keeper R Papaiah," said park curator Shivani Dogra previously.
“After preliminary enquiry it was found that Mukesh was in an inebriated state and had jumped inside the enclosure to go near the lion. He has been handed over to Bahadurpura Police."
Mr Kumar spent the night in custody and was charged under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act.
Police inspector Harish Kaushik added: "He told us he wanted to see the lions up close and shake hands with one of them. He is lucky enough to have survived.
"The zoo keepers told us that it was the time of the cats for their feed and they responded to their voice when called out. We have booked him but will again question him after he sobers up."
Meanwhile, the Daily Star reported a three-year-old boy who was cradled and carried to safety by a mum gorilla after falling into a zoo enclosure.
Back in 1996 the boy slipped away from his mum and ended up taking a fall into the gorilla enclosure at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, US. The child, who has never been identified, broke his hand and got a nasty cut to his face from the 20-foot drop.
And with seven territorial gorillas roaming the enclosure, what one would expect to happen next doesn't bare thinking about.
But, in a strange turn of events, one mother gorilla Binti Jua – meaning daughter of sunshine – did something completely unexpected. Read the full story here.
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