Neglected zoo

The Peshawar Zoo was opened to not only provide entertainment to people, but to also educate people regarding different species of animals. But the officials responsible for the maintenance of the Peshawar Zoo are neglectful. On my first visit to the zoo about four weeks ago, it seemed that the KP government did not consult any zoologist because I found several animals in discomfort. Pools inside the enclosures of bears and tigers were without water. Cages of monkeys were adjacent to the cage of a pair of Bengal tigers. This puts both the animals under constant stress as the tigers were tempted to pounce on the monkeys, and, obviously, the latter were in constant fear of being attacked.

The snake house, which houses large and small species of venomous and non-venomous snakes, contains enclosures made of glazed-glass fronts, with two serious shortcomings. First, the glass door has one key-lock, and I wonder if a lock does not get firmly closed on any given unfortunate day, a venomous snake might get loose. Second, each enclosure was around 5 feet x 3 feet, in which there is also a python which could be more than 15 feet long. I wonder how this python can ever stretch its body.

Marghuz Khan

Peshawar