Baby elephants live in quarantine as they wait for their enclosures

Three months after arriving at Safari Park, three baby elephant are being kept in quarantine due to delayed funds.

KARACHI: The three baby elephants in Safari Park are still waiting for their enclosures to be built, three months after they arrived in the park.

Even though newly acquired animals are kept in quarantine for only 15 days, the elephants in Safari Park have overstayed by three months. The Community Development Department (CDD), which is responsible for building the enclosures, blames the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) for withholding the funds.

“The city government has yet to release a single penny from the current year’s budgetary allocations reserved in the district Annual Development Programme for Safari Park,” complained CDD EDO Rehana Saif. “It is due to the paucity of funds that the elephants are being kept in quarantine.”

According to Safari Park deputy director Dr Kazim, Rs25 million have been allocated in the 2010-2011 budget but they have yet to receive it.

Saif said that her department cannot start working on normal cages until they receive money. Explaining the hierarchy, she said that the revenue generated by the CDD is deposited to the CDGK’s finance department, which then allocates funds when needed. She added, however, that these allocations should not be delayed because they are essentially from the CDD’s resources.

An official in the CDGK’s finance and planning department told The Express Tribune that the development budget for the Safari Park comes from devolved portion, which is related to the defunct Karachi Municipal Corporation. Poor cash flow is the main reason behind the delay as the CDGK has to settle liabilities worth Rs1.5 billion. Funds will be released as soon as they are available, he added.

Karachi DCO Muhammad Hussain Syed assured that despite these financial liabilities, all emergency cases will be dealt with on a priority basis. “If the Safari Park has unavoidable development work, the CDGK will arrange the required funds,” he said.

Specifics of the quarantine area

According to Dr Kazim, the quarantine area comprises  both an open portion and a cage for animals depending on their species. The minimum time period for most animals is 15 days because it takes around that time to find out if they carry any disease.

These elephant babies were, however, kept in quarantine for a much longer period, he said. A total of five elephants were brought in but two of them were moved to the zoo as soon as an enclosure was ready.

Cost of enclosure

An open enclosure for the baby elephants will cost approximately Rs20 million, said Dr Kazim. Since the Safari Park is not a revenue-generating department but a recreational park, its income is limited. It comes down to around Rs16 million, he said.

The park earns revenue from the Safari coaches, canteen, entrance fee and through the auctioning of facilities, such as chairlifts, Go Aish adventures, etc. The Go Aish and chairlift contracts are for 10 years but they are reviewed every five years. The park shares 50 per cent of the revenue from the Safari coaches with the contractor.

Development in Safari Park

Since its establishment in 1975, there were no major developments on the 135-acres of the park until this year, said the deputy director. Even, the eight-kilometre-long road within the park was never carpeted. Recently, the management has started four projects, including the construction of a boundary wall, redesigning of enclosures for the animals, road carpeting and arrangement of lights in the garden area.

Budget for animal diet

Dr Kazim said that the diet budget has been divided between two offices — the CDGK and the Sindh accountant general. The former has funds of up to Rs5 million while the latter has funds of up to Rs30 million. The CDGK also owes money on the diet bills, he added.

The mammals eat gram pulse, wheat brawn, maize, barley, grain husk, Lucerne grass, green fodder, dry grass, fresh fruits (banana, melon, watermelon, apple and other seasonal fruits) and vegetables (spinach, carrot, turnip, etc). The birds usually eat wheat, maize, jawar, red rice, bajra and china grain. The elephants eat fruits, carrots, etc.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2011.