Farewell: Lahoris lose Sunny — the city zoo’s only giraffe

The 12-year-old male giraffe dies of chronic lung cancer and cardiac arrest.

LAHORE: Sunny, as he had been named by his caregivers, was spotted lying dead by a night watch guard at the Lahore Zoo at around 5:30am. Zoo officials said according to the post-mortem report, the 12-year-old giraffe had been suffering from lung cancer and had died of a cardiac arrest.  “He was the only giraffe in captivity in the country,” Chief Zoo Engineer Azam Chaudhary said.

Zoo officials said that the animal’s death had taken them by surprise. “Sunny had appeared perfectly healthy,” one of them said.

Lahore Zoo Director Shafqat Ali told The Express Tribune that the final autopsy report would arrive on Wednesday, “but yes, the preliminary examinations showed that the giraffe had suffered from protracted lung cancer and had died due to a heart attack.”

Sunny had been brought to the zoo from South Africa along with two female giraffes in November, 2007, 13 years after a giraffe at the zoo died in 1993 from swallowing a plastic bag. The three giraffes had cost Rs7.4 million at the time, zoo officials said. One of the female giraffes, Twinkle, had died after losing her balance and falling down. Her vertebrae had gotten dislocated, they said. The second giraffe died after a zebra, she had been penned with, kicked her in the neck.



A veterinary doctor at the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore, who was part of the team that carried out the autopsy, told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity that the animals kept in the zoo were not immune to the high levels of pollution in their environs. He said the Lahore Zoo was adjacent to two of the busiest roads in the city – The Mall and Lawrence Road. “They are not accustomed to the noise or toxic fumes in the area which is why there is a high chance for cancerous cells to develop.”

He said most of the animals that had died at the Lahore Zoo had suffered from tuberculosis mainly caused by the polluted environment they lived in.

He said regular blood tests were not given to animals at the Lahore Zoo. He said early diagnosis of diseases could save many animals. “No one here had the slightest idea that the giraffe was suffering from a disease till we conducted the autopsy,” he said.

Zoo Director Ali said there was plenty of vegetation at the Lahore Zoo and the neighbouring Lawrence Garden that helped bring down air pollution to a great extent. “Just because malignant cells were found in its lungs, doesn’t mean that it was the sole cause of death.” He also said, “If humans can survive this air pollution, why can’t the animals?”

Chief Zoo Engineer Azam Chaudhry said a few years back, the zoo was considering a proposal to shift some of the larger animals to the Lahore Safari Park because of these very reasons. “For some reason the plan was not implemented,” he said.

The zoo director said they were not considering any such plan in near future. “The animals at the zoo are for the visitors to enjoy… as many as 4 million people visit this zoo each year…How many people do you think can travel all the way to the Safari Park to see large animals? The poor just won’t be able to afford it.”

Ali said the Lahore Zoo enjoyed an illustrious history and moving the zoo elsewhere would amount to disregarding that history.

When asked when the zoo was planning to get more giraffes, he said zoo authorities had already been planning to import two females to mate with Sunny. He said zoo authorities would meet on Wednesday to discuss how to obtain three more giraffes – a male and two females - who would be kept at the same place.

In 2007, the zoo had procured the giraffes from a private animal supply company, Multiple Distributors and Manufacturers Private Limited. Zoo Director, Ali said they would try their best to get giraffes, “as almost all zoo visitors ask about them”.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2015.