Rare Animals Dying in Indian Zoo
N E W D E L H I, India, Aug. 2, 2000 -- Thirteen rare tigers are killed by“stress.” A crocodile is found decapitated, its head discoveredin a rhino’s cage. A deer dies mysteriously.
A series of strange occurrences recently has left a range ofanimals dead at India’s showcase zoo. But the deaths of 13 of thezoo’s 56 most prized beasts, the rare Royal Bengal tigers, havecaused the biggest uproar: Lawmakers in Parliament mourned thetigers Monday, and India’s Supreme Court has called for aninvestigation.
Nine of the 13 big cats that died between June 23 and July 28were white tigers, mutated versions of the Royal Bengal. Only 61white tigers are believed to exist today, all in zoos around theworld.
Explanations of what happened at Nandankanan Zoological Parkvary — from stress and disease, to improper care and too fewresources at the zoo.
Zoo Fed Tigers Decomposed Meat
Indian Environment and Forests Minister T.R. Balu said thetigers were sick due to a parasite and under stress, a conditionexacerbated by a cyclone in November 1999 that ravaged the zoo andkilled more than 10,000 people in the eastern state of Orissa. Thezoo is located in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa’s capital. Activists,though, have blamed rotten meat or the use of the wrong medicine.
When the tigers began dying in June — nine in one night — thenation focused on the treatment of captive animals in a countrythat has no tradition of animal rights. Most state governmentscannot afford to run zoos properly, and Orissa is one of India’spoorest regions.
Newspaper investigations have shown that zoos throughout Indiadon’t have enough veterinarians on call, and that most zoo workersare unskilled laborers uneducated in animal biology.
After the cyclone, the zoo began withholding the animals’ foodonce a week to cut down on food costs. Investigators have beenunable to obtain samples of medicine reportedly given to theanimals.
Zoo authorities initially said the 13 tigers died of sleepingsickness, a disease carried by tsetse flies. However, tests by thegovernment’s Pathological Laboratory in Calcutta showed that thedeaths were caused by eating decomposed and contaminated cow meat,an official at the laboratory said on condition of anonymity.
Bizarre Death of Crocodile
“We do not have a clear report on what actually happened,whether the animals died of the [sleeping sickness] or somethingelse,” said Manoj Mishra of the World Wildlife Fund in India.“The whole thing is bizarre because this disease does not takesuch a big toll.”
In a different sort of death at the zoo, a rare adult saltwatercrocodile of South American origin died the night of July 26, itsmutilated body discovered the next day.
On July 30, police arrested two men, one of them the crocodile’sformer keeper, who reportedly confessed he had killed the animal toget back at the zoo. The man reportedly had been transferred out ofhis job at the zoo’s reptile enclosure after he was caught sellingfish meant for the crocodiles.
Meanwhile, a deer was found dead Friday. The cause of death isnot yet known.
So far, 21 zoo workers have lost their jobs as an investigationof the animals’ deaths unfolds.
It is the second rash of deaths in less than a year at thefacility. When the Nandankanan zoo was lashed by torrential rainsand high-speed winds during last year’s cyclone, trees were toppledand animals scampered with terror in their enclosures. An Africanlion, eight spotted deer and four black-faced langur monkeys wereamong the animals that died.