Abolish Zoos

[Mrudul Godbole]

Six new zoos to be introduced soon
Wednesday, 30 November 2011 23:36

Much to the delight of children and animal lovers, at least six new zoological gardens are being proposed in the country. Among the major attractions in them will be the first ever Night Safari in the country at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Panther Safari at Raigad in Maharashtra. The new zoos will be in addition to the already existing 22 in the country.

According to sources in the Central Zoo Authority, out of the six proposed zoological gardens that have been granted approval three are in Uttar Pradesh alone. Out of the other three, two are in Maharashtra and one in Madhya Pradesh.

The most awaited is, however, the Greater Noida Night Safari which will be the fourth of its kind in the world after Singapore, China and Thailand. CZA has granted approval under Section 38H(2) of the Wildlife Protection Act. It has also got the mandatory approval by the Supreme Court.

The Lion Safari proposed in Etawah, though having received clearances from both the CZA and the SC, has remained a non-started due to a power tussle between SP and BSP.

Yet another zoo proposed at Ramgarh Tal Development Area in Gorakhpur is expected to house animals from derecognised zoos of the State.

Two other similar proposals for Agra and Muradabad have, however, been shot down on the ground that the proposed sites were within the flood plains of Yamuna and Ram Ganges rivers and thus not suitable for creation of zoos.

Maharashtra being one of the worst-hit States in man-leopard conflicts, CZA has also granted approval for setting up a leopard rescue centre at Ahmednagar. Further, Madhya Pradesh is also expected to have a zoo and animal rescue centre at Satna.

Among the existing top five zoos, the Alipur Zoological Gardens (West-Bengal) is home to rare captive breeding projects involving the Manipur Brow-antlered Deer.

The Allen Forest Zoo (Uttar Pradesh) is created out of natural forest and its main attractions include white tigers and Asiatic lions. Aringar Anna Zoological Park (Tamil Nadu) is an Avian paradise and roosting ground for migratory birds. It is also home to a wide variety of species of monkeys. While the Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park/ Chatbir Zoo (Chandigarh) has Lion Safari and Royal Bengal Tiger as its main draws, the Guwahati Zoo (Assam) has one-horned rhino, Himalayan Black Bear, stump-tailed Macaque and the Hoolock gibbons as its major attractions.

[Mrudul Godbole]

67 animals died at WB zoo in eight months
Kolkata, May 22, 2012, (PTI):

Even as the West Bengal government hired and fired nine directors in the last eight months to ensure better management, the Alipore zoo here recorded 67 animal deaths during the same period.

Sources said 67 animals including tigers, lions, chimpanzees, marmosets, kangaroos, birds and snakes, died here between August 2011 and March 2012.

The zoo had recorded 57 animal deaths in 2009-10 and 52 to 53 deaths in 2010-11.
Among the animals that died are three of the six red kangaroos brought from Czech Republic in June 2011. Two new-born marmosets died in November 2011.

“The maximum number of casualties is among birds and reptiles. A total of 30 birds and 20 snakes have died over the past eight months,” a senior zoo official said.

According to former zoo inspector Swapan Ghosh, animal deaths in zoos are triggered by three factors-population of old and sick animals, lack of proper veterinary care and unforeseen incidents such as a disease outbreak.

“But 67 deaths in eight months, or one death in every 4 to 5 days, is highly unusual,” Ghosh, said.

However, state Forest minister Hiten Burman claimed to be ignorant of the deaths.
“Is it true that 67 animals have died in eight months? I’m not aware of that. I’ll have to inquire. I’ll ask for a report from the zoo authorities,” Burman told Deccan Herald.

“In fact, neither the Zoo authorities nor the government has an idea of running the park. As the animals in the zoo are taken out of their natural habitat and placed in an artificial environment they always need special care. Their condition is not only delicate but fragile too and the zoo authorities need to take care of that but unfortunately enough these factors are never taken under consideration,” a former director of the Alipore Zoo told Deccan Herald.