PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday directed the management of the Peshawar Zoo to produce a report about the animals kept in the facility and the facilities available to them along with the number of animals died during the last six months.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Syed Arshad Ali also ordered the zoo’s director to provide it with details of the animals not suited to that environment.

It fixed Jun 17 for the next hearing into a petition seeking an inquiry and fixation of responsibility for the alleged negligence, which led to the death of various zoo animals during the last many months.

The petition was jointly filed by 24 civil society activists, including Dr Ali Jan, Dr Adil Zareef, Jahan Mahmud Aurangzeb, Rukhsana Kuli Khan Khattak, Farzana Khan Wasim and others.

Asks official to produce details of animals not suited to local environment

The petitioners sought multiple court directions for the authorities to bring zoo conditions on a par with global standards.

They also called for the early return of the animals not suited to the local environment to their natural habitats or suitable sanctuaries.

The petitioners said there should be a ban on the shifting of such animals to the zoo.

The zoo’s director informed the bench that a well-qualified veterinarian had already been appointed for timely treatment of any animal suffering from any disease in the zoo.

He said various steps had been taken to improving zoo conditions.

The director said the number of animals had been on the rise as several animals had given birth to cubs.

Lawyer Ali Gohar Durrani appeared for the petitioners pro bono and pointed out that no proper plan was available for running the zoo and instead, a stopgap arrangement had been made for the purpose.

He pointed out that one of the zebras in the zoo had died after receiving injuries when its head had collided with a cage.

The lawyer said Peshawar Zoo should be made environmentally-friendly with plantations according to international standards and that proper trained and experienced staff should be hired to care for animals.

He also said a laboratory should be set up for the diagnosis and prescription of any medicine to the sick animals.

The lawyer called for the establishment of an animal rescue and treatment centre saying it should be responsible for the stray animals’ vaccination and neutering to prevent various diseases such as rabies.

The counsel pointed out that in the past, civil society members had cautioned authorities against setting up of a Zoo in Peshawar citing various reasons when the government announced it had selected Qadirabad located on Palosi Road as venue.

He, however, said the last PTI government went ahead with the plans leading to the inauguration of the zoo in Feb 2018 and ever since, there had been news of dozens of animals dying in captivity including a snow leopard, giraffes, zebra and deer.

The bench directed the zoo management to produce details of the court about animals kept there and those, which died during the last six months.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2021