Poison kills tiger in Zoo

[Guest guest]

A royal bengal tiger was poisoned at the Itanagar Zoo in the state

of Arnunachal Pradesh in Northeastern India on 20th Feb` 2006.

A leopard was also targeted the same night at the zoo.

This despite the presence of three guards on duty.

The tiger finally died and the leopard still continues to be in

critical condition.

This is the fourth incident of poaching in the Zoos of Northeastern

India.

At the Aizawl zoo in Mizoram, a bear was killed and its gallblader

was found missing. The keeper confessed later that it was he who did

the offence.

At the Assam State Zoo in Guwahati, electric wires were laid by

miscreants in the middle of the night from accross the zoo boundary

wall to poach an Indian Rhino. The rhino got frightned and raised

alarm by thumping the ground and running in circles aroung its

enclosure. This alerted the guards and the poachers fled leaving the

electric wires behind.

In november, residents of villages on the fringes of the Orang

National Park in Assam poisoned two royal bengal tigers with a

carcass of a cow laced with insecticide.

The zoos in India have always been soft targets for its inmates.

I have just completed a tour of the Zoos in the Northeast India.

Among the zoos I visited were the Aizawl Zoo (Mizoram), Alipore Zoo

(Kolkata), Kohima Zoo (Nagaland), Lady Hyde Park and Animal Park in

Shillong (Meghalaya) and the Assam State Zoo in Guwahati (Assam).

I am afraid evey inmate is in a very pathetic state. There seems to

be no hope unless the CZA ( Central Zoo Authority ) holds the

respective state Governments accountable for the violations. The

tyranny of Zoos in India over the animals should be eradicated once

and for all.

I am sure all those who have been to the zoos in India and

specially to the Northeastern India share my opinion.

Please do log into the website of the Central Zoo Authority of India

and register your protest at : www.cza.nic.in

 

Thanking you,

 

Azam Siddiqui