According to sources, the consignment to the zoo included some ailing birds which were not quarantined at the time of their arrival due to which a major part of the flock got ‘infected’ with an unknown disease and died within weeks of their arrival at the zoo. No official was available to provide further details.
A visit to the zoo revealed that the birds were caged in the upper portion of the reptile house where pythons were used to be kept. Apparently there was a shortage of space at the time which compelled the staff to shift pythons to a small empty cage reserved for monitor lizards to provide a larger area to the birds.
The zoo staff, however, hasn’t bothered so far to change the old animal identification plates, a lapse quite common in the zoo. What adds to the visitors’ confusion is also the structure of the long horizontal upper portion whose elevation prevents a direct view of the animals and one has to look into a mirror placed on the side to catch their glimpse.
The loss of the partridges in such significant numbers is a huge loss to the zoo which now has only three birds of this species. Talking about the intricacies involved in the care of the chakor, Rafiq Rajput of the Sindh wildlife department said that being a gregarious animal, chakors were sensitive to contaminated food.
“Fungus-laced food can easily make a chakor ill. Adequate ventilation, sunlight, provision of fresh water and clean environment are important with seasonal vaccinations and variation in food according to weather conditions,” he said, adding that proper food and the right environment enhanced the bird’s reproductive potential.
About its habitat, he said the chakor was found in all the four provinces as well as the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir and that was the major reason why the bird had been declared the national bird of Pakistan. “Popular as a game bird, chakor is found in rocky areas. Its habitat in Sindh is limited and it is found only in the Khirthar National Park. The other three provinces as well as Azad Kashmir have developed its breeding farms.”
Despite habitat destruction and a high hunting pressure, he said, chakor, a member of the pheasant family, was still found in good numbers in Pakistan. “It goes up to higher elevations in summer and descends in winters and that’s a major reason which has protected the bird from poachers.”
Regarding the bird’s great ability of adaptation, Dr A.R.Qureshi, former head of the Karachi zoo, said that chakor was the only bird that was able to acclimatize to weather conditions in Arizona back in the 1960s.
“A US expert developed a centre at the Karachi zoo to select game birds. Among the four birds, including black and grey partridges, chakor was the only one that perfectly settled and adapted to Arizona’s climatic conditions.”
