Illegal slaughterhouses killing zoo animals?

[Guest guest]

Zoo mates falling prey to pollution

TNN, 28 January 2010, 04:00am IST

HYDERABAD: It was in the run-up to the Bakrid festival when the city zoo

lost six black bucks last November within five days. The veterinary

doctors at

the zoo were surprised that the animals had died due to foot and mouth

disease, which is caused by a virus that had been eradicated from Andhra

Pradesh many years ago. And that's when they realised how the virus had

gained entry into the zoo: illegal slaughter houses that had mushroomed

around the zoo unchecked had brought cattle and sheep from neighbouring

states for the festival. Officials said the epidemic was contained and thus

other animals saved.

 

Nevertheless, of the 24 animal deaths at the Nehru Zoological Park in the

last one year, 18 have died in the last three months alone. Two animals, a

fox and a mouse deer, died last week. But these deaths were not due to the

virus. The fox was found dead in his burrow with maggot wounds and the mouse

deer died due to a rare urine retention illness.

 

Clearly, there are more factors leading to deaths in the zoo than just the

deadly virus. When founded in 1965, the 300-acre zoo was located on the city

outskirts and its animals lived in mint fresh environs. If slaughter houses

around it are making unwanted donations of the foot and mouth disease virus

that travels into zoo at the speed of 60 km/hour, the vehicles moving inside

the zoo are ensuring a rise in pollution levels as well. In addition, many

animals are reaching their longevity and their deaths are natural. In some

cases, however, the animals are lonely, having been couriered from other

zoos to Hyderabad, alone. And there is a crunch in the number of animal

keepers, with just about 57 animal keepers for the 1,390 animals living in

the zoo.

 

But to start with, it is pollution that is the zoo's biggest problem. If the

road outside it has become busier, dirtier than ever, with it now leading to

the Shamshabad airport, the number of vehicles moving inside the zoo have

also shot up, despite the entry for vehicles priced at Rs 500. Zoo

authorities say that 650 vehicles enter the zoo on 'peak days' such as

holidays and weekends. On regular days, around 300 vehicles move around the

zoo premises.

 

" The noise pollution because of vehicles is definitely having an impact on

the animals who are not used to this kind of atmosphere. Especially primates

and herbivores are very sensitive, " said Farida Tampal, state director of

the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

 

Pollution, both noise and air, may not kill animals but lowers their

resistance, say experts. Tampal says that a suggestion was made to the zoo

to operate more battery operated vehicles and restrict the entry of vehicles

further. Given that the zoo earns an annual revenue of Rs 5 crore from its

visitors, the suggestion to restrict entry of vehicles could be difficult to

accept. After all, the zoo spends a lot too, Rs 11 lakh alone on the diet of

the animals every month.

 

" I would not say that the zoo officials are negligent. But the zoo was once

in an isolated place and now the traffic has compounded, " said Vasanti Wadi,

secretary, People for Animals. Wadi goes on to point out another crucial

issue— loneliness— that is casting a shadow on the animal's longevity.

" There are a few animals living alone. Every animal requires company, " she

said, questioning why these animals were brought alone from other zoos.

 

Zoo officials say that acquiring animals for the zoo is a big problem,

cumbersome too. " We got a giraffe from Delhi but a single one. What is the

fate (of the animal), " wonders Dr M Navin Kumar, consultant with the

Hyderabad zoo and also its former deputy director. The enclosures are such

that two different kind of animals cannot be accommodated in one. Dr Kumar,

who is also on the evaluation team of the Central Zoo Authority, says that

zoos should always acquire an animal with its compatible breeding pair,

which does not always happen.

 

Objectively speaking, the number of deaths even in the financial year

2008-09 were also 20 and this year the number has shot only by four. But

that, say experts, is not the point. The fact that deaths have been

clustered in a quarter is reason for concern. " There is a need for more

animal keepers as well. We had 120 animal keepers in the 1980s but now we

don't even have half that number for 150 animal enclosures, " said an animal

keeper at the zoo.

 

Experts say that the zoo's mortality rate is the same as that of other

zoological parks but admit its time its surrounding environment was cleaned

to make the zoo livable for its animals.

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