KARACHI, Dec 8: No FIR has yet been lodged in the mysterious disappearance of a lion cub at the Karachi Zoological Gardens almost four months ago. A police investigation was suggested in the report of an inquiry, ordered by the Karachi administrator.

The report also recommended action against the zoo staff whose negligence, according to it, led to the death of three lion cubs and ‘disappearance’ of the fourth one.

According to sources, although show-cause notices have been issued to the zoo employees, who were suspended following the episode, and the police have been approached to investigate the case, the KMC officials concerned are reluctant to lodge an FIR.

“It has been more than a week since we asked them to lodge an FIR through a complainant and name the suspects. But there has been no progress so far. Even the police have not been provided with a copy of the inquiry report to get an idea about the case,” a police officer told Dawn.In the meantime, he added, the police recorded the statements of all zoo employees.

Sources in the city government said that officials were waiting for legal opinion before an FIR could be lodged.

It is worth mentioning that two pairs of lions were confiscated by the customs authorities at the Karachi airport last year on the ground that the animals were imported on an expired permit.

The big cats were handed over to the Sindh wildlife department which shifted them to the zoo saying that it did not have the facility to keep wild animals.

While the matter was still pending in court, a lioness gave birth to four cubs but after five days, three cubs were found dead in the cages and the fourth one went missing. The incident led to the immediate suspension of the then zoo chief by Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani.

Two separate inquiries were conducted and both held the zoo staff directly responsible for the incident as they were found negligent in performing their duties.

The reports, the sources said, recommended penalties against the zoo staff, including the suspended zoo chief and the vet, who was later suspended along with another staff member by the then district coordination officer, Mohammad Hussain Syed.