KARACHI, Nov 23: Over the past 15 days, eight spotted deer have died in the Karachi zoo, thus raising the deer death toll to 12 in just two months, Dawn has learnt. Their numbers have decreased from 26 in 2005 to seven in Nov 2007.
Reportedly the eight adult deer, also known as chital, died suddenly of an unknown disease, possibly a viral infection. Zoo officials were not available for comments.
Sources said that four adult deer of the same species, three females (one of which was pregnant) and one male, died in the zoo last month.
However, the zoo administration confirmed only two deaths and refused to reveal the results of the dead animals’ blood tests.
Earlier this year, in June, six fallow deer fawns also died one after another within a week of their birth. Reportedly, some of these died of navel infections. However Mansoor Qazi, who is in charge of the zoo, denied that these deaths occurred.
The 136-year-old Karachi zoo has seen the deaths of 19 spotted deer — each pair worth between Rs100,000 and Rs300,000 — in two years.
With a total animal count of around 900, the zoo also lost a pair each of black leopards and pumas early this year. Zoo staff maintained that the three cats had reached their age limits. The pumas’ deaths occurred a mere three years after their induction into the zoo, since they were purchased in 2005 at the cost of Rs1.15 million. The pair of black leopards was bought in 1996/1997, at a similarly high cost.
While these constitute a great loss, the animals’ welfare is jeopardised by the fact that the city’s only zoo faces an acute shortage of trained staff, a paucity of funds and inordinate delays in the release of funds. While a number of zoo staffers have either died or retired during the past decade, there have been no new appointments since 1997 because of a ban imposed by the government. As a result, 65 posts are currently lying vacant. The crises of manpower can be gauged from the fact that the zoo has just one veterinarian to meet the needs of the entire animal population.
KARACHI, Nov 23: Over the past 15 days, eight spotted deer have died in the Karachi zoo, thus raising the deer death toll to 12 in just two months, Dawn has learnt. Their numbers have decreased from 26 in 2005 to seven in Nov 2007.
