BAHAWALPUR: Two male hyenas died in mysterious circumstances at the local zoo a couple of days back.

Dawn has learnt that the two male hyenas, aged 7-8 years, were found dead in their enclosure at the zoo on May 5, with their mouths bleeding.

The zoo administration, suspecting foul play, reported the matter to police after which a team of Kotwali police visited the zoo and recommended postmortem examination of the animals’ bodies.

Zoo Curator Sakhi Joyia told Dawn that on Thursday morning he was informed by his staff about the death of two hyenas in their enclosure.

He said as the mouths of both animals were bleeding, he suspected foul play and immediately filed a complaint with the Kotwali police station.

He said a police team, after visiting the zoo and inspecting the animals bodies, recommended their postmortem examination.

Later, he said, a team of vets from the Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB) carried out the postmortem examination and also sent samples for forensic tests to a laboratory in Lahore, from where the report was expected within three to four days.

However, according to curator, in their initial report, the IUB experts mentioned possibilities of food-poisoning, snake-bite or poisoning by someone, Mr Joyia said.

He added that the police would proceed further in the case in the light of the forensic report.

Mr Joyia said that Wildlife Deputy Director Zahid Ali Rai has also constituted a team comprising Assistant Directors Ibrar Ahmed and Munawwar Hussain Naqvi to conduct a probe into the mysterious deaths of hyenas and submit a report at the earliest.

The curator said a pair of hyenas would be acquired from Lahore Zoo.

He said that during three days of Eid, the zoo earned gate money to the tune of over Rs3.4 million as compared to last year’ Rs 0.4m because this year the entry ticket had been increased.

Deputy Director Rai hoped the postmortem report would ascertain the cause of hyenas’ death and the zoo management would take action in the light of the report.

TWO DIE: Two men died and six others were injured in two accidents in the district on Saturday.

According to police and Rescue 1122 officials, three men identified as Hassan, Waseem and Hamza were travelling by a car that overturned because of speeding and plunged into a ditch near Adda Mochiwali on Khairpur Tamewali road.

As a result, the three men were seriously injured and were shifted to the emergency ward of the Bahwal Victoria Hospital (BVH), where Hassan succumbed to his injuries, while the others were stated to be critical.

In another incident, one Munir Ahmed died when a recklessly-driven motorcycle rickshaw plunged into a canal near Tibbi Sadiqabad on Bahawalpur-Hasilpur road. Four others who were in the rickshaw were injured in the accident.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2022