Absence of zoo director, wildlife official at hearing of plea for animals’ well-being irks SHC

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday issued show cause notices to the Karachi Zoo senior director and a representative of the wildlife department for their failure to appear before the court in a matter pertaining to the natural habitat for animals in the zoo.

The high court had earlier issued notices to the zoo senior director and the wildlife department representative for appearance before court on a petition seeking natural habitat for animals in the zoo.

Petitioner S Yahya Ahmed, a representative of non-governmental organisation, submitted in the petition that the zoo administration was primarily responsible for causing a significant damage to the animals that were presently kept in the zoo.

He said there had been reports of death and illness of animals residing at the zoo but the administration was reluctant to disclose information about the health and well-being of the animals.

The petitioner submitted that the lioness at the zoo seemed to be excessively fatigued and while a monkey was also living in an extremely small cage and did not receive adequate care. He said the zoo administration did not make any attempt to recreate a tiger’s natural habitat and the enclosure evidently served as a cage rather than a sanctuary.

He submitted that the zoo administration must be held accountable to the public at large and

ordered to investigate and reform its practices and procedures to improve safety and maintenance of the zoo as per international standards.

According to the petitioner, animals at the zoo were being subjected to inhumane conditions and their treatment was in utter violation to the Section 3 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1890.

The SHC was requested to direct the zoo administration to provide the list of all the existing animals as well as those that had passed away during the last decade, and disclose their medical record. The petitioner also requested the high court to convert the status of the zoo to a wildlife sanctuary and hire an experienced independent veterinary doctor to conduct health assessment of all the animals presently residing there.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar directed the Karachi Zoo senior director and wildlife department official to appear before court on March 18 and explain their failure to comply with the court order.

The high court also issued notices to the children park administration in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal locality on a petition seeking better environment for monkeys kept in the park. Petitioner Rida Tahir submitted that the children park administration had kept three monkeys in a small cage without proper ventilation and proper diet to them. She requested the SHC to direct the park administration to transfer the monkeys to a suitable wildlife habitat in Pakistan or provide suitable enclosure and food as per their diet.

It is pertinent to mention that in another matter pertaining to the Syrian brown bear, the court had ordered the KMC and the administration of the zoo to start the required procedure to shift a cub of the Syrian brown bear species to its new enclosure at the zoo.

The KMC had submitted that a competent authority had accorded approval for calling tenders for overhauling the proposed cage with new fencing and other required features.