KARACHI, Jan 6: The city’s only zoological garden lacks traditional “zoo features”.

Any new visitor to the zoo feels the absence of “zoo-feature” animals like the giraffe, the hippopotamus and the rhinoceros. The giraffe has not been in the zoo for decades, whereas the last rhino died in 1992.

The only zoo features available at this one of the oldest zoological gardens are a 70-year old elephant, two pairs of lions and only one tiger.

The veteran elephant has completed its natural life as experts say its life-span is not more 65 to 70 years. “Our elephant is living a bonus life period,” said a zoo official.

According to official sources, for the last many years no fresh induction of big animals has been made in the zoo for various reasons including lack of funds and non-availability of animals due to ban on sale of big animals the world over.

“We had invited open international tenders for purchase of an elephant a few years back for our zoo, but no bid was received,” the zoo official said.

The zoo administration has managed to keep the number of animals at a desirable level due to successful births among the existing animals and better medical facilities.

Earlier, the city zoo was managed by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), but now its administration has been transferred to the city district government.

The zoo official hoped that under the city district government some fresh animals would be inducted. But for that purpose, he said, there was a long procedure to follow. Moreover, lack of funds was another impediment in that regard.

At present the zoo has one pair of black leopard, one female tiger, three chimpanzees and a female bear. There are around 582 animals in the zoo and last year was one of the productive ones with 23 births.—APP