Animal Suffering at Karachi Zoo

Last week in Karachi's Zoological Garden a puma died. While the authorities claim that it died of lung failure, no one seemed too willing to spill the beans on as to what really the cause was. Almost a month before that it was a black leopard that died (causes of its death were claimed to be TB). Prior to these deaths other animals have also died, more likely out of sheer neglect or because of illness (as the zoo authorities like to claim). Animals that died in Karachi Zoo over the past year include pelicans, llamas, a tigress, a bear, a female leopard, a lion, two baby chimpanzees, pumas, zebras and an ostrich. Also the much celebrated zoo elephant, the famous Anarkali also died sometime back in the zoo.

While the zoo was renovated a few years back, no real care of the animals in the zoo is being taken. There are injured animals with deformities, animals that are overfed and creatures whose health seem to decline soon after they reach the zoo. The main reason for this being that the zoo staff does not really know how to properly take care of these animals.

But the zoo authorities are not the only culprits. Visitors at the zoo can usually be seen throwing garbage at the animals, poking them with sticks and catcalling. Must the poor captivated animals be treated like that? It's really a sad state of affairs. Currently the zoo is also understaffed and lacks animal doctors.

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