SHC grants request for urgent hearing of plea for elephants at zoo, Safari Park

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has recently issued notices to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), Karachi Zoo administration and others for urgent hearing of an application seeking special medical care for all the four elephants kept at the zoological garden and Safari Park.

The applicant, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) for animals, requested for an urgent hearing of its petition seeking shifting of elephants to an appropriate habitat.

The petitioner submitted that four elephants, named Malika, Sonu, Noor Jehan and Madhubala, were kept at the Safari Park and Karachi Zoo in concrete structures and improper condition, which was putting their lives at risk.

The NGO submitted that through video and photographic assessment, wildlife experts had assessed that the four elephants were in a deplorable state. The NGO representative submitted that one of the elephants, Malika, was in dire need of medical attention as according to veterinary experts, she was compelled to put her weight on two legs as her four feet could not carry her weight.

The applicant submitted that serious health problems like arthritis, hernia, swelling in knee joints, overgrowth of foot sole, cuticles as well as inflammations were common in captive elephants and all the four animals showed signs of being afflicted with at least one of these ailments.

The high court was requested to decide the petition with regard to shifting of the elephants to an appropriate habitat as the animals could suffer irreparable damage to their health.

The SHC granted the request for the urgent hearing of application and fixed the matter on August 25.

The KMC, however, denied the concern of the petitioner in its comments and submitted that the elephants needed no medical assistance and they were healthy and in proper shape.

The municipality requested the high court to call an independent report and the zoo administration would extend its full cooperation for the purpose of examination of the elephants by an independent local vet or a team of independent vets.

The KMC maintained that the enclosure of the Karachi zoo where two of the elephants had been kept was more than 3,238.5 square yards while the enclosure of the Safari Park where the other two elephants were living occupied more than 7,156.92 sqaure yards where the elephants were free to move with the facilities of retiring, bathing and playing in sandy areas.

The municipality stated that sanitary condition and cleanliness of both the entities were satisfactory and the behaviour of all four animals was observed quite normal.