Lahore Zoo to DNA test big cats

Initiative to help compile record and improve cats' health, optimize breeding for healthy offspring

LAHORE:

The Lahore Zoo will be conducting DNA tests of tigers and lions at the zoo and Safari Park to get accurate information about their genetic relationships, race and family.

The DNA records of these animals will be compiled for the first time in a government zoo in Pakistan. The task will be undertaken with the help of experts from the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences.

According to the experts, this initiative will help improve the health of the big cats as well as optimize their breeding.

Although the zoo management committee has approved this initiative, the final decision will be taken by the Punjab wildlife director general and secretary of forests and wildlife.

The Lahore Zoo and Safari Park has a large number of lions and tigers. However, the department does not have a scientific record of which lions and tigers belong to the same family.

Now that the zoo management committee has decided to test the DNA of all the lions and tigers in the zoo, records of relationships and original breed will be made.

A veterinary expert, Dr Rizwan Khan, told The Express Tribune that this is a very important initiative. He outlined two major benefits of the information obtained from the DNA tests.

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"The first benefit is that we would be able to know how similar a lion or tiger is to another lion or tiger. Their genealogy will be known. This is what we call Fellow Genetics," he said.

The second benefit is that "we would be able to genetically identify what diseases does an animal carry, which would help in selecting couples that can produce healthy offspring for breeding," Dr Khan explained.

He also said that the wildlife department does not have the facilities to run the DNA tests. "For this we have to take the help of University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Virtual University or Punjab University."

A sample of the animal's blood, body hair with its root, or both can be taken as a DNA sample.

According to The Express Tribune, the lions and tigers in the Lahore Zoo and Safari Park have been tagged; their lifestyle and health data has been compiled on the basis of this tagging.

The genetic information of animals can now be obtained scientifically through DNA, and compiled as well.