No keepers, five more die in UP zoo

No keepers, five more die in UP zoo
R B SINGH

LUCKNOW, AUG 28: Five more animals have died at the local Prince of Wales Zoological Garden during the last one week due to the pathetic conditions. On Wednesday, a squirrel, a blackbuck and a stag fell prey to the negligence by zoo staff. On August 20, a Japanese monkey and a stumptail monkey died.

On Wednesday, two blackbuck clashed in their enclosure, resulting in the death of one of them. The incident might have been averted if a keeper had been around.

Zoo Director Paramjit said the rare squirrel died of a disease and the stag following a heart attack. Out of the four Japanese monkeys in the zoo, one died and following a prolonged illness, according to the zoo director. The stumptail monkey was also not well, he said.

Within a short span of five months (from December 1999 to April 2000), 23 animals died in the zoo due to various reasons. The zoo director attributed these casualties to financial crunch, shortage of staff and misbehaviour of visitors who harass the animals.

There are about 700 animals in the zoo, including birds living in 138 enclosures. However, there are only 10 keepers to take care of all these animals. More than a dozen enclosures are under one keeper's care. Neither they feed the animals properly nor they clean the enclosures.

Adding to the woes of the staff are over 150 animals who were brought from various parts of the country during the last two years after being rescued from mobile zoos or jugglers' captivity.

Fifty-three large and small animals had died in the Lucknow zoo last year alone. These included three new born tiger cubs, two female elephants, an elephant calf, a female Hukkoo, one Himalayan bear, a female panther, and 16 cheetals.

The Lucknow zoo gets an annual grant of Rs 37.5 lakh but the expenditure works out to Rs 50 lakh. If the salary of the total staff is also included, the total expenditure comes out to Rs five crore. The zoo is unable to provide adequate diet to its animals. Tigers, on an average, need 12-13 kg meat every day but here they do not get more than five or six kgs.

In a significant judgment recently, the Kerala High Court had ruled that animals have inherent rights of dignified existence akin to the fundamental rights of citizens. But the condition inside the zoo is pathetic.

A wildlife enthusiast, R N Sharma said the Centre should accept suggestions made in a report in the August issue of Sanctuary Asia, a magazine on wildlife and go for a radical reforms in zoos. The magazine has suggested that all existing zoos should be phased out over two decades and should be made botonical parks-cum-interpretation centres, he said.