(IN) The Savaged Garden - Mumbai Zoo (India Today Article)

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Overcrowded cages, filthy environs and lack of food or water for

animals. For years, Mumbai's Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, the Byculla

zoo for short, has been the biggest advertisement against zoos. Now, the

unnatural deaths of a panther, lion and hippopotamus in the past two

years have raised a serious question over the viability of one of the

oldest zoos in the country.

 

The National Zoo Policy stipulates that a zoo must preserve wildlife and

impart education to the public. The Byculla zoo which houses 196 mammals

and 436 birds does neither. Most enclosures have no signage and animals

live in sheer stress, harassed by an average of 6,000 daily visitors

because there is nobody to supervise them. " The hippos are ill, monkeys

have skin disorders and there is no water for most animals. Free-ranging

animals should not be kept in captivity at all, " says Nilesh Bhange,

founder of Plants and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), Thane.

 

 

Tales of neglect

 

Three major attractions-the only male African-Asian hybrid lion, a

panther and a hippopotamus- have died in the past two years.

The existing animals are sick and live in abysmal conditions.

Zoo authorities want to push through a Rs 480-crore plan to revamp the

zoo and bring in exotic foreign animals like African elephants and polar

bears.

NGOs want the zoo to be shut and the animals shifted to the Sanjay

Gandhi National Park.

 

That, of course, is a larger issue. But the excuses senior officials

trot out for the frequent mortality of animals are rather lame. " The

animals died because they were old. Some deaths also occurred because of

global warming and viral infections that they contracted through their

surroundings, " says Shubha Raul, mayor of Mumbai. The dire state of the

zoo isn't because the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which

runs the zoo, is cash-strapped. Far from it, the corporation is sitting

on a Rs 480-crore corpus earmarked for revamping the zoo.

 

 

The funds will not go into improving the living conditions of the zoo

but giving it an 'international makeover'. The ambitious master plan

will cover 53 acres and will introduce exotic foreign species like the

African elephant and the polar bear, " to bring out the difference

between Indian and foreign species " , as a zoo official explains.

 

It is not clear whether this involves reforming the existing bureaucracy

which runs the zoo but clearly, the existing menagerie is off the radar.

" The biggest problem the zoo faces is that there is no proper

supervision and care for the animals. Rules are being flouted, cages are

left open and animals are eating in the same place where they defecate.

Free-ranging animals and large carnivores should not be confined, " says

Bittu Sahgal, wildlife expert and member of the Zoo Improvement

Committee set up by the BMC in 2006.

 

The question, as Sahgal says, isn't about finance. The administrative

body simply does not have the wherewithal to handle the zoo animals.

" The superintendent of the zoo is a horticulture expert who has no

experience in handling wild or rare species of animals, " says B.R.

Sharma, member secretary of the Central Zoo Authority, Delhi.

 

Veterinary doctors double up as administrative staff, dealing with

paperwork instead of tending to sick animals. Zoo officials cannot even

treat animals without the approval of BMC bureaucrats. " At times, this

delays the diagnosis and timely treatment of animals, " says a senior

doctor from the Bombay Veterinary College. In 2007, for instance, it

took zoo authorities six months to treat a sick panther by which time it

had died.

 

Three years ago, the Bombay High Court directed the civic body and the

forest secretary to provide clean food and water to the animals, and

maintain hygienic conditions in enclosures. The orders fell on deaf

ears. Non-governmental organizations like People for the Ethical

Treatment of Animals (PETA) and PAWS have locked horns with the BMC and

are urging them to close down the zoo and shift the animals to Sanjay

Gandhi National Park, Borivali.

 

" Rani Bagh was never meant to be a zoo. It should be preserved as a

botanical garden, but the animals must be moved to better facilities

where their natural habitat is simulated, " says Anuradha Sawhney, Chief

functionary of PETA, India. In fact, Raul suggests the makeover must add

naturalists, veterinary doctors as well as horticulture experts.

 

The only revamp needed, say environmentalists, is for the BMC to shed

its apathy. Setting up open-plan enclosures for animals, providing them

with good quality food, clean water and giving them timely medical help

are just some of the urgent steps needed to save the zoo.