IWMB to take care of zoo bear

Islamabad : The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) will take care of 18-year-old female bear as the provincial wildlife departments are not ready to keep her in their available sanctuaries due to some reasons.

According to the details, the female bear is currently in the Islamabad Zoo from where the animals are being shifted to other sanctuaries on the directives of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The Himalayan bear was treated for injuries in the past, which she mysteriously sustained in a small cage with restricted movement.

The efforts to send her to a sanctuary in Balkasar failed as the management refused to take care of her due to limited resources.

Then IWMB approached the wildlife departments of the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa but both of them also showed their inability to keep her in their respective sanctuaries.

Now the IWMB has no option except to provide her safe living conditions anywhere in the Margallah Hills National Park. At the moment the female bear is living in a small cage where she does not have enough space to move around.

The Himalayan brown bears are already facing extinction as their number has reduced from 10,000 to just 54. The government is making efforts in coordination with non-governmental organizations to increase their number.

The female bear cannot stay longer in Islamabad Zoo as all the animals must be shifted to safer places on the directives of the IHC.

A team of experts is taking care of the animals that currently reside in the Islamabad Zoo as all of them would be shifted after their complete recovery from different ailments.