No veterinary hospital in ICT leaves health of zoo animals at risk

Islamabad: The wildlife captivated at the Marghzar Zoo, the only public zoo of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) has no veterinary hospital available to get treatment in case of critical medical complications and emergencies.

Talking to this agency, Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) Chairman Dr Anees ur Rehman said different wildlife species were kept at 27 various enclosures whose proper diet and well-being was monitored by IWMB staff while assisting the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) staff.

Dr Anees highlighted that there was dearth of dedicated medical facility for animals as they were managed through private vets in case of serious emergency. He added that IWMB staff was expert in dealing with animals living in the wild habitats and had no expertise to manage wildlife under captivity. “IWMB is only supporting and assisting MCI at Marghzar Zoo also Islamabad Zoo through its wildlife experts to manage the animals as per their characteristics and habitat requirements.”

Chairman IWMB was the member of the committee formed the Islamabad High Court under the supervision of Secretary Ministry of Climate Change along with Mayor Islamabad and Chairman Capital Development Authority to improve the administration of the Zoo.

He also mentioned that animal tagging was also another issue in the Zoo. “Proper tagging helps distinguish between similar species and others kept in the cages to identify fit and healthy animals among the unhealthy ones.”

To a question, he said there were also issues with the cages size and structure as most of the birds cages were open.

“It has been observed that rats used to enter their cages when IWMB staff put food into it.” “We wanted to built those cages with concrete and were trying to manage some funding for the project,” he added.

He went on to mention that IWMB was checking the quality, quantity and distribution of animal diet in the Zoo. “At present, there is no issue of diet as all food items are available except black chickpeas that are consumed by the animals.

Due to lockdown amid the pandemic of Corona virus, there is no supply of chickpeas which will be managed especially by the supplier by April 15." Responding to another question, he said as per the recommendations made by WWF-Pakistan expert Dr Uzma to improve wildlife situation at the Zoo. “We are gradually taking measures like the crocodile put in a small cage has been shifted to a bigger place,” he added.