(IN): Zoo revamp

[Guest guest]

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=feb2609/edit1

*EDITORIAL*

 

Zoo revamp

 

The concept of zoos has undergone a sea change in the past couple of

decades. Zoos are no longer meant to serve as showpieces, exhibiting

wildlife in confinement. Rather, these are supposed to serve long-term needs

of conservation by facilitating research on diverse aspects of wildlife and

their management. On the front of upkeep of animals and birds, too, greater

emphasis has been on securing for the wildlife an environment as close to

their natural habitat as possible. While many acclaimed zoos around the

world have realised or are close to realising these avowed objectives, the

condition of the Guwahati Zoo among the country’s biggest animal shelters

located on a strikingly natural landscape still have a widening gap to seal.

No doubt, some positive developments, including scientific captive breeding

of a few rare species, have taken place, the overall situation has to

witness substantial development on several critical spheres. Caged wildlife

looking harrowed and forlorn in small, dingy confines is still a disturbing

practice that needs to be ended at the earliest.

 

In a belated but welcome development, the zoo authorities have now completed

a masterplan identifying the constraints and preparing a roadmap for future

development activities. Given that management of zoos is a scientific

exercise requiring long-term preparations, expertise and patience, such an

effort should have been there much earlier. The job at hand now is to

implement the roadmap with a sense of urgency and sincerity. Assam and the

entire North-East’s heritage as a biodiversity hotspot makes all this highly

imperative. With a number of species adding to the list of the endangered

every passing year, the zoo can do a world of good to protect the long-term

survival prospects of such wildlife. Faunal lives apart, the region boasts

of an incredibly high diversity of flora, and as such the zoo has to

undertake the twin responsibility of facilitating research on both the

fronts. The North-East lacks adequate database on its faunal and floral

wealth something that can be effectively developed through study and

research. If the State Government is really serious about conservation, it

should stop exhibiting mawkish sensibilities and propel the zoo to a global

status through concrete action.

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