Call for independent wildlife management committees
KARACHI: The recent loss of an exotic tigress in Safari Park has once again brought into light the critical need for setting up autonomous management committee(s), comprising wildlife professionals, to scientifically run facilities for captive animals, experts said while talking to Dawn.
They said that standards be devised and necessary laws enacted without further delay to save lives of hundreds of animals currently being kept in unnatural conditions at these facilities.
Expressing serious reservations over caging of animals in Safari Park, experts said that such facilities were meant to provide wild species with larger spaces simulating their natural environment. “In most countries, safari parks are usually built out or away from the city’s hustle and bustle. For instance, the Ranthambore National Park and a captive centre is developed 10 to 15 kilometres away from Jaipur city in India,” said natural resource manager for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Umair Shahid. “The animals shouldn’t be caged. Such facilities should also serve as a refuge for animals rescued from any medium of entertainment.”
According to Mr Shahid, the purpose of such facilities was conservation and education, which would be best served only if one had enough resources to secure animal lives, train their keepers and make arrangements for public awareness.
Recently a large portion of the Safari Park was given away to private parties that run various recreational activities for visitors, while reserving a section for animals. The species caged at the park include a pair of chimps, a golden tabby tiger left alone after its mate recently died mysteriously, an eagle, a houbara bustard, a crocodile, a pair of tortoise, grey African parrots and peafowl.
During a recent visit to the park, the cages were found either without specific details of the species being kept in them. The information provided was not of any use: for instance how and when the animal was brought and its age at the time of arrival.
Moreover, there are also concerns over how these animals were acquired and whether they were acquired after taking permission from the Sindh wildlife department since many of them are protected under the Sindh Wildlife Ordinance, 1972.
Sources told Dawn that confining birds such as an eagle and houbara bustard to small spaces was an extreme violation of animal rights.
Sources believed that the constant violation of wildlife regulations and animal rights at government-run facilities proved how the weak the writ of wildlife department was. They said that it was only after media reports highlighted the arrival of an exotic big pair of big cats in Karachi that the Sindh wildlife conservator wrote a letter to Safari Park officials and asked them to provide details for all animals which were either ‘exchanged’ or imported.
However, the wildlife officials have so far not visited the park, even though the tabby tigress passed away last week. Its post-mortem was managed solely by the Safari Park staff whose mishandling had initially contributed to cause the tigress’s death within two weeks of its arrival.
Raising objection to the controversial ‘deal’, sources said the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation still needed to publicise names of ‘experts’ who had allowed the exchange of healthy animals at the Safari Park with exotic big cats which had reportedly been found sick at the time of their arrival.
“It’s not the first time that an animal has lost its life to incompetence and unfortunately it won’t be the last since the KMC seems to look at animals as a means to earn profit,” remarked a wildlife expert.
Referring to a disease outbreak which claimed the lives of more than 20 animals in January at the Karachi zoo, he said that no clue could be found about what ailed those poor animals. An inquiry committee had been set up to investigate the matter and the KMC still has to make the report public.
Moreover, he said, the KMC also had not made public the exact number of animals given away in ‘exchange’ for the pair of tigers to the Lahore-based party, though its officials did admit at the time of arrival that ‘surplus’ camels, horses and deer would be sent away.
According to experts, most of the problems at facilities housing captive animals can be attended to if laws and standards are made to run them. They suggested that these facilities should be brought under the management of expert committee(s).
“These facilities should be made autonomous with full authority over their financial and administrative matters and revenue generated by them should be spent on the facility,” said the WWF biodiversity director Uzma Khan.
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