Row over zoo safety in wake of fatal incident

A Belgrade District Court judge ordered a postmortem on the body found Sunday in Belgrade Zoo’s bear cage. The Belgrade Zoo guards found the lifeless body of a young man in a bear cage early around 8 a.m. Sunday when they immediately informed police and called in an ambulance. Row over zoo safety in wake of fatal incident The man, identified as B.J., incurred injuries to his head, abdomen and legs, but doctors who examined the body could not say whether he died from the fall or from injuries inflicted by the animals. Zoran Rajic, security chief at the zoo, said that guards noted young people around fortresses’ walls near the Zoo through the night. “We have night guards that patrol the entire zoo. During the Beer Festival we increased the rounds. The last time guards checked the bear cage was at 5:30 a.m. and nothing had happened at the time,” he said. The cause of death and circumstances surrounding the man’s fall are yet to be established. Nonetheless, the manner in which the Belgrade Zoo—situated within the Kalemegdan fortress—is secured gives an impression that an accidental or deliberate fall from fortress’s wall to the bear cage could have happened earlier. Administration of the Zoo and the Kalamegdan fortress management deny any responsibility whatsoever. Zoo director Vuk Bojovic told FoNet news agency he did not feel responsible for the death of the 22-year-old, adding that the bear cage did not have a roof, since it is located at the part of the fortress which has a status of cultural monument. Mira Andric, representative of the Public Enterprise Belgrade Fortress, says the wall from which the young man fell into the cage did not fall under their company’s jurisdiction. “Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and PE Belgrade Fortress have been trying to open the security issue with Bojovic regarding that portion of the fortress since fall 2006. However, our pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears.” The City of Belgrade said in a statement that Bojovic would have to answer for the incident and state what he did to prevent the accident. The Belgrade administration accused the director of running the Zoo as "a state of its own," without consulting anyone, and even refusing to let experts from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, into the Zoo. Meanwhile, a number of journalists' associations have issued strongly worded statements Monday condemning the decision taken by the editoral staffs of two Belgrade dailies to print images of the mauled corpse on the front pages of their papers, describing it as "unprofessional and morbid."

Row over zoo safety in wake of fatal incident

The man, identified as B.J., incurred injuries to his head, abdomen and legs, but doctors who examined the body could not say whether he died from the fall or from injuries inflicted by the animals.

Zoran Rajić, security chief at the zoo, said that guards noted young people around fortresses’ walls near the Zoo through the night.

“We have night guards that patrol the entire zoo. During the Beer Festival we increased the rounds. The last time guards checked the bear cage was at 5:30 a.m. and nothing had happened at the time,” he said.

The cause of death and circumstances surrounding the man’s fall are yet to be established.

Nonetheless, the manner in which the Belgrade Zoo—situated within the Kalemegdan fortress—is secured gives an impression that an accidental or deliberate fall from fortress’s wall to the bear cage could have happened earlier.

Administration of the Zoo and the Kalamegdan fortress management deny any responsibility whatsoever.

Zoo director Vuk Bojović told FoNet news agency he did not feel responsible for the death of the 22-year-old, adding that the bear cage did not have a roof, since it is located at the part of the fortress which has a status of cultural monument.

Mira Andrić, representative of the Public Enterprise Belgrade Fortress, says the wall from which the young man fell into the cage did not fall under their company’s jurisdiction.

“Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and PE Belgrade Fortress have been trying to open the security issue with Bojović regarding that portion of the fortress since fall 2006. However, our pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears.”

The City of Belgrade said in a statement that Bojović would have to answer for the incident and state what he did to prevent the accident.

The Belgrade administration accused the director of running the Zoo as "a state of its own," without consulting anyone, and even refusing to let experts from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, into the Zoo.

Meanwhile, a number of journalists' associations have issued strongly worded statements Monday condemning the decision taken by the editoral staffs of two Belgrade dailies to print images of the mauled corpse on the front pages of their papers, describing it as "unprofessional and morbid."