KARACHI, May 3: Four elephants housed in pairs at the Karachi Zoological Gardens and Safari Park have been confined to small spaces for a long time as the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), running the two facilities for captive wild animals, is yet to complete their proper enclosures, it emerged on Friday.

Sources told Dawn that unnatural conditions were affecting animal health.

The elephants, aged between six and eight years, had been brought to the city in 2009. At Safari, they are chained and live in the small quarantine where they had been first brought. At the zoo, however, they are kept in an enclosure that has a concrete floor and a small unpaved area but its construction has not been completed.

The sources said that the projects to construct enclosures aimed at providing larger spaces to elephants could not be completed on account of a lack of official interest.

Work on the Safari project, they said, had resumed some time ago whereas there had been no progress on the zoo’s elephant enclosure (costing about Rs20 million) for three years. The projects included provision of a pond and playing area for animals.

“Indeed, these enclosures should have been built prior to animals’ shifting but, unfortunately, changes at the administrative level have caused delays. Work at the Safari was resumed a month ago and would likely be completed within two weeks,” said Tariq Naseer heading the Safari Park.

Upon contact, a zoo official said that the KMC administrator had given orders to restart work on the project but funds were yet to be released.

It is important to know that the management of zoo elephants has been acknowledged as a major problem across the world on account of their specific physical, social and psychological needs. Some zoos have even closed down their elephant exhibits.

Elephants, according to information available on the net, require vast spaces to roam, socialize and express their natural behaviour. They are highly social animals who, in the wild, live in matriarchal herds, forage for fresh vegetation, play, bathe in rivers, travel as far as 30 miles per day, and are active for 18 hours per day.

Zoos, it is said, rob elephants of their most basic needs, including social companionship and adequate space to exercise. They are kept in unnaturally small groups with callous disregard for the special bonds of friendship between elephants.

This explains why captivity-induced health problems have been found to be the leading cause of death of elephants in zoos, as they are dying decades short of their expected life span.

“It’s an extremely shy animal and doesn’t breed in captivity. A jungle-type environment, play area, provision of a full-time caretaker and a pond make elephants feel comfortable,” said Dr Masoodul Haq Chaudhry, a wildlife expert.