Ill-fated animals

Letter August 12, 2020
Two lions from the Islamabad zoo met a terrible fate while being transported to a sanctuary

ISLAMABAD:

Recently, zoos have become a topic of much debate in Pakistan due to their deplorable condition. Furthermore, owing to the sheer negligence of owners and zookeepers alike, zoos across the country have been in the news for all the wrong reasons with concerns regarding the health of animals who are kept in inhumane conditions without being given adequate food and water.

Just last week, two lions from the Islamabad zoo met a terrible fate while being transported to a sanctuary, after unprofessional caretakers failed to move them to safety following a fire that suddenly erupted inside the lion’s cage. The video of the two lions show them frantically roaring as their cage fills up with smoke while the caretakers attempt to use sticks to push them out. Unfortunately, both lions succumbed to their injuries within the next two days. The least the zoo management could have done was to made sure that the men were trained handlers in order to prevent such mishap from happening in the first place. Prior to this, an infamous 36-year old Elephant Kaavan was transported to a sanctuary in Cambodia after authorities claimed that the animal was mentally tortured after being confined to a small pen for more than three decades. It is unfortunate that such mishandling has become a common practice across the country when it comes to dealing with animals. While we wish to keep exotic animals caged up inside zoos for our own personal pleasure, we fail to educate ourselves on the rights that these animals have.

Owing to such desolating incidents, zoos across Pakistan should be shut down and all animals should be sent to sanctuaries under the supervision of professional organisations such as the WWF to ensure that such accidents do not occur. The Islamabad zoo management on the other hand should face legal consequences.

Shaheen Midhat

Islamabad

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10th, 2020.

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