KARACHI, Sept 2: Officials investigating the loss of four lion cubs are yet to come up with a conclusive evidence to explain the tragedy that struck the zoo over a fortnight ago.

The Karachi Zoological Gardens had witnessed the birth of four lion cubs after 30 years. Three of them were found dead and one went missing hardly a week later.

Sources said that laboratory reports regarding the samples taken from the animal bodies formed an important part of the investigation, which the officials had not yet received.

While no clue has been found to the missing cub, the delay in making the results of the inquiry public is raising suspicion about the incident that took place on Aug 12 in highly mysterious circumstances.

It’s worth noting that the government constituted two inquiry teams to investigate the case. One was led by Revenue Executive District Officer Ghanwar Leghari while special secretary Shazia Rizvi was appointed inquiry officer of another team by the local government minister.

The city government team collected samples from the animals’ bodies on Aug 13 and from their pen on Aug 15 and sent them to the chemical examiner and a laboratory of Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS).

According to sources, the chemical examiner’s report has been received while the DUHS lab’s report related to any possible viral or bacterial infection is still pending.

“We were earlier told that the report would be released within 10 to 15 days. However, the lab staff is now contending that the report would be released after Eid as relevant persons have not been able to do the job due to a breakdown of law and order in the city,” a city government official said, adding that nothing could be said about the incident with certainty unless all reports were received.

The official declined to reveal the findings of the chemical examiner’s report.

But, in reply to another question, he said that if nothing conclusive came out of the reports, it would be concluded that the cubs died of starvation and the zoo management would be held directly responsible for negligence and mismanagement.

Zoo officials’ claim unexamined

The officials investigating the incident failed to carry out any examination of the lioness’ faeces the following day of the incident that could easily help determine the zoo officials’ claim that one cub had been eaten up by its mother.

According to experts, hair couldn’t be digested and is released into the faeces and is visible to the naked eye in the animal’s excreta.

Also, a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test has not been included in the investigation to quash rumours that the cubs were taken away and replaced with others that reportedly died at a private facility.

A DNA test, the experts said, would also be helpful if some evidence, for instance stains of blood, was picked up from the pen that could determine the veracity of zoo officials that a cub was eaten up by the lioness.

This contention, however, is strongly disputed by wildlife experts who argue that though it’s very common for male species to eat its own offspring, it’s very rare for the lioness to eat its own cubs.

This also came to light during investigation that none of the zoo staff was responsible for seeing to it that the babies were sufficiently nursed by their mother. This was the lioness’ first birth and, according to experts, it is common among femalespecies to stop feeding after the first birth.

Also, the size of the cage was found to be too small for a big cat. A large box, placed inside perhaps for the mother to keep her babies, had further reduced the size of the semi-shaded cage that reportedly leaked during rain.