ISLAMABAD: The Marghazar Zoo is set to receive 30 rabbits as a gift from former chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar.

Sources said Justice Nisar, who retired on Thursday, decided to gift the red eyes rabbits to the zoo. The zoo authorities are in contact with the staff of the former CJP to shift the rabbits from his official residence.

“This is good news for the zoo which otherwise remained in the news for the death of animals. The zoo was short of rabbits and their addition will attract more visitors,” said an official of the Municipal Corporation Islamabad (MCI) requesting not to be named.

The zoo is one of the most neglected departments of the MCI and during the last four years over two dozen animals died there.

The condition of the zoo is also not satisfactory and animals, including a pair of lions and the lone elephant, are kept in small cages.

“For the fiscal year 2018-19, the government had allocated funds for upgradation of the zoo but in the revised budget the project was dropped. Now we are once again making a plan to upgrade the zoo,” said the official.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2019