KARACHI, April 30: Investigation of animal mortality has proved an equally challenging task as managing wildlife at the Safari Park, where the staff is still clueless about what had caused the golden tiger’s death more than a month ago.

Officials expressed their ignorance about the issue when approached for their version on the findings prepared by a laboratory which examined the samples from the dead animal.

“I know nothing about the lab report as I am not a member of the inquiry committee (set up to investigate the tiger’s death and fix responsibility). The committee is preparing its final recommendations but I am not sure when it would be presented to the higher authorities,” said Rehan Khan, senior director for culture, sports and recreation of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

A committee member, however, told Dawn that not a single meeting of the body had been called since its establishment in March. He also contended that the committee’s mandate was to fix responsibility and not to investigate the death.

“We are unable to do our job since the lab report hasn’t been finalised yet,” he said, adding that the delay had occurred because the samples were first sent to a lab in the DHA and then to a veterinary lab in Tandojam as the required expertise was not available at the DHA lab.Sources at the Safari Park said the Tandojam veterinary lab had declined to examine the samples sent frozen.

“They had returned the samples two weeks ago. The samples should have been kept in a cold storage at a certain temperature, but must not be frozen,” a Safari official said quoting a lab staffer.

He also said that the male tabby tiger, left alone after its mate’s death, had been de-wormed recently following a lab report that showed a high presence of tapeworms. However, the animal’s vaccination was pending.

The exotic pair of golden tabby tigers the KMC got in an ‘exchange’ for some ‘surplus’ animals, according to sources, had been unwell since their arrival in the park.

Initial confinement of the animals to a dark, small concrete room, they said, must have worsened their condition. The staff had waited for a formal opening of the tiger enclosure by the KMC administrator and delayed the animals’ release into the enclosure for four days.

The tiger pair, they said, was shifted to the park instead of being kept for at least two weeks in quarantine, which, according to experts, was vital to prevent transmission of communicable diseases and help the animals recover.

The female died within 10 days. Its death, the sources said, came as a shock as it not only deprived the facility of a precious animal, but the park also lost its valuable deer, given away in large numbers as ‘surplus animals’.

The KMC, which had brought the big cats from Lahore in ‘exchange’ for ‘surplus’ animals, has so far kept details of the controversial deal secret. The corporation had not obtained permission from the provincial wildlife, which is mandatory under the law for animal exchange and purchase.

Nothing conclusive had emerged from an inquiry initiated into the death of more than 20 deer at the zoo early this year.