Alipore Zoo in red over deaths of Red Kangaroos

The post-mortem report of the fourth kangaroo stated that the animal died of acute haemorrhage in the lungs followed by cardiac failure. The first one died in August last year reportedly of stress. For the second mammal’s death in December 2011,respiration failure was cited as the reason. In February this year,when the third died,zoo authorities blamed it on “stress”.

“There might be some problem with the habitat here. It is difficult to pin point the reason because if it was entirely unliveable,the joey would not have been born here. Moreover,there was no particular pattern in the death of the four kangaroos,” said Neeraj Singhal,Director,Alipore Zoological Garden.

He also said at present there were no plans of bringing any more kangaroos to the zoo.

With a young joey alive,the zoo authorities are planning to consult their counterparts in Czechoslovakia as to what went wrong and how to keep the young one alive. “One good thing is that the baby is independent and feeding it,hopefully,will not be a problem in the absence of its mother,” said Singhal.

Zoo officials,however,held the poor living conditions in the zoo responsible for the deaths. “It is fast becoming a jail where animals are kept under captivity. Greenery is vanishing from and is being replaced by concrete,rendering the place unfit for the animals,” said Rakesh Singh,president,Zoo Employees’ Union.