THE STATE OF LAHORE ZOO

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http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News & subsection=\

Pakistan+%26+Sub-Continent & month=September2006 & file=World_News2006092482215.xml

*

*Suzie can play football and the harmonica!*

Web posted at: 9/24/2006 8:22:15

Source ::: Internews

 

LAHORE • Lahore Zoo's female elephant Suzie can play football and the

harmonica and Tigress Rani doesn't eat when her keeper Younas is not around,

animal keepers at Pakistan's largest zoological gardens say.

 

Of the 17 animal keepers at Lahore Zoo, three are very popular — Shah

Muhammad who looks after elephants, Yunas Masih who looks after lions and

tigers and Abdul Ghafoor (popular as Chacha), the snake keeper.

 

Shan Muhammad joined Lahore Zoo 18 years ago, when the zoo had a pair of

elephants, Lucky Rani and Shahzor.

 

He started as a gardener but eventually became a student of Sadiq Ali, the

elephant keeper.

 

" Shahzor went mad some years later and broke Sadiq's leg, " he said, " and

eventually the police had to shoot him dead. " Lucky Rani died five years

later.

 

" She was upset on Shahzor's death, " Shan said, " and had become very old. "

Lucky Rani was more than 100 years old when she died.

 

" Elephants can live for up to 200 years in the wild, " he said, " and about

100 years in captivity. "

 

Shan said he spent a lot of time training Suzie and taught her how to play

football, the harmonica and lift heavy pieces of wood.

 

Suzie ate about 200 kg of sugarcane, 50 kg of grass, 10 kg of fruit, 2 kg of

bread and 2 kg of grams a day, he said.

 

" I love tigress Rani, " said Younas Masih, " and she doesn't eat when I'm not

around. " Younas has been working at the zoo for 15 years taking care of

lions and tigers — the most popular animals at the zoo.

 

It is very hard to tame tigers, he said, and they often try to bite or roar

at their keepers.

 

Abdul Ghafoor, the snake keeper, has been working at the zoo for the last 26

years.

 

There were about 40 snakes at the zoo including cobras and a python that he

caught in Chhamb Jurian.

 

Cheema snake is the most common type of snakes in Lahore, he said, that

includes seven species.

 

He loved snakes because they were the most unique of all animals, he said,

and he had been to Europe for research on South Asian snakes.

 

Snakes are not on display these days because their enclosures are under

construction, Ghafoor said.

 

A wildlife expert said elephants lived in groups and if they were kept alone

in captivity, there were chances that they go mad. Shahzor's killing should

have been avoided, he said.

 

Most zoos do not keep elephants if they cannot accommodate a group, he

added.

 

" There should be a difference between a zoo and a circus, " he said

commenting on the tricks Suzie could play. " Zoo's are for education, or

protection of animals. "

 

An expert on tigers said Lahore Zoo did not have " the appropriate

atmosphere " for tigers and lions, and called attention to the fact that an

old lion, Leo, was very weak and needed treatment.

 

An expert on snakes said reptiles needed proper temperature and the snake

enclosure at Lahore Zoo needed a temperature control system.

 

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