By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-07 07:59

The bones and tattered clothing of a 37-year-old man were discovered in the lions' and tigers' enclosure of a zoo in Heilongjiang province.

Staff found the remains while cleaning at about 8:40 am at the Beifang Forest Zoo in the provincial capital of Harbin on March 25, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Local police identified the victim as Zhang Yachun from Pingshan township, located about 30 km from the zoo. Zhang was known to suffer from mental illness, Xinhua said.

A zoo employee said Zhang had received an electrical shock. But when reporters asked him for details, he refused to elaborate, the Beijing News newspaper said.

Ren Xing, police chief in charge of the zoo area, was quoted by the Legal Evening News Sunday as saying the investigation concluded Zhang's death was an accident.

"We found evidence he had climbed into the enclosure," Ren said.

The iron fence surrounding the lion and tiger enclosure is 3.5 m high and is not electric.

A report on the top Chinese website portal Sina.com quoted the dead man's father, Zhang Wanrong, as saying his son left for work at about 7 am on March 24 and never returned home.

Because of Zhang's history of mental illness, zoo officials offered his family 30,000 yuan ($4,270) in compensation - half the amount it paid the family of a victim killed by a tiger in 2005.

Since the 2005 tragedy, the zoo had kept its four lions and three tigers in cages rather than outdoor ranges. A sign reading: "No climbing" was hung from the fence.

A senior official at the zoo said the three Siberian tigers are younger than 2 years old, a period when they are usually very tame.

They were fed the night before Zhang's death, the Beijing Evening News reported.