WHEN animals fall victim to unwarranted human intervention and ineptitude, it gives pause for reflection. The past few days have brought to light some distressing cases. On Thursday, a snow leopard — listed as a ‘vulnerable’ species with a population of only around 200 in Pakistan — was found dead in its cage at Peshawar Zoo. Captured from the wild at the age of two, the beast had been living at the Ayubia National Park in Abbottabad district, a cold and hilly area that is not too unlike snow leopards’ natural habitat. It had recently been brought to the lower altitude of Peshawar. The cause of death is disputed — zoo authorities insist it was a ‘natural’ death, while conservationists’ believe that the rising temperatures and poor living conditions played a major part. An animal used to temperatures of 15ºC or under, died on a day that was recorded at 26ºC, and that too whilst being kept in a cage covered with iron sheeting. This is the third animal to have died at Peshawar Zoo since the facility’s inauguration just last month. Then the past few days also saw the deaths of two female tigers at the Lahore Zoo, while a male is in critical condition. The cause is a blood parasite attack, and if the male succumbs as well, the zoo will be left with just two tigers.

One could go on about the cost of purchase and the upkeep of such exotic animals and the losses incurred on account of their death, but that would be to miss the point. Pakistan’s zoos are everywhere in bad shape, filled with disheartened, suffering animals. Far from being places where the diversity of life can be celebrated, zoo facilities here are mostly candy-wrapper-littered wastelands where creatures of the wild are jailed. Even in the developed world, where zoos are sanctuaries, a movement is building about not confining animals. In Pakistan, where they are kept in abject conditions, there is urgent need to dismantle zoos altogether.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2018