January 03, 2008	Thursday	Zilhaj 23, 1428

KARACHI, Jan 2: One of the two male Bengal tigers at the Karachi zoo that has been ill for some time is proving to be quite troublesome for the staff since the big cat has refused to eat anything else but geese. In almost a month, the animal has devoured about 50 to 60 geese.

While the geese stock is fast depleting at the zoo, which once had 100 to 150 of these birds, it is worth noting that the city government has not made public the inquiry into the death of various animals that have died over the past few months. The latest victim is a female red deer that died due to unknown reasons recently.

The zoo staff contends that the practice of serving the tiger geese began out of compulsion since the animal was losing weight due to a prolonged sickness and was not eating anything. “Normally carnivores are served with chicken meat, beef or mutton. But the male Bengal tiger stopped eating any of those gradually a month ago. Seeing his declining health, the staff offered it goose meat for a change and luckily he slowly started eating,” a zoo staffer explained on the condition of anonymity.

But now, the staff is in a quandary, even though the tiger’s health has improved. The geese stock is declining day by day since the animal has developed a taste for the specific meat and is served with two geese per day. “The zoo management doesn’t have the financial powers to buy geese from the open market. The staff has no choice but to oblige the animal, considering the fact that the zoo is left with only four big cats after the loss of Shateela, a Bengal tigress about a month ago,” the source said.

Commenting on the depleting geese stock, a former zoo staffer said that it has never been a practice to feed beasts other animals from the zoo except in cases where the vet felt that the meat of an animal dying of natural or accidental causes was safe for other animals.

“Goose meat is nutritious and digests quickly. That may be one of the reasons that the zoo staff decided to offer it to the ailing animal,” he said, adding that the zoo faced a dearth of competent staff and the management should have taken the help of an animal nutritionist considering the increasing mortality ratio at the zoo.

Extremely wary birds, geese, he said, breed easily in captivity and their population at the zoo could be increased if the management paid attention to a proper breeding plan.

Among the animals that have died at the zoo over the past few months include a jackal, a black buck, two blue bulls, and 12 spotted deer.