A male giraffe which was brought to Nandankanan Zoological Park from Alipore Zoo of West Bengal in exchange of four tiger cubs died recently.
There was a female giraffe in Nandankanan and the male giraffe had been brought to the park for breeding. But with the death of the male giraffe the plan has fallen flat. Besides, it also pointed at the negligence meted out to animals in the Nandankanan zoo.
The giraffe is an herbivorous animal of tropical Africa and nowhere is such species seen other than the tropical Africa. But the species is artificially bred in the Alipore Zoo of Kolkata under captivity. It very well explains that the field zoology of the animal is very successfully studied and applied in case of such extreme tropical herbivore.
During 2006 while a male giraffe was brought from Alipore Zoo, it met death on transit due to electrocution only because of carelessness of employees involved in the transportation of the animal. Whatever may be the story told about the death of the animal now, none would disbelieve that lack of adequate care and treatment to the animal resulted in its death. The employees of Nandankanan Zoological Park may take whatever plea or pretext to save their skins, but the real facts glitter, when the entire event is carefully studied and analysed.
First, the news came from different sources that the death of Jay giraffe was due to heart attack on arrival of the animal in Nandankanan on March 1, 2016 and subsequently it was declared by the technical experts that the death of the animal was due to attack by jaundice, which the animal carried from the Alipore Zoo. Further, it was known that, the animal met its end due to suffering from filariasis which happened as it was attacked by bugs. The medical team, which examined the carcass, opined that the herbivore was sick before it was brought to the Nandankanan Zoo and the animal was not examined properly and adequately by the team. It is a fact that jaundice is a waterborne disease and the animal suffers for a prolonged period with much of uneasiness when attacked. It is a highly contagious disease. It is quite amazing that the veterinary doctors and the zoo managers did not have an inkling of the fact while taking the animal to custody from the authorities of the Alipore Zoo. It appears the team members did not do their work sincerely and honestly and just squandered the public money. For such superfluous work, an innocent animal died and the State sustained heavy loss.
As ascertained the animal was suffering from bloodlessness including jaundice. The bloodlessness of an animal can also be caused due to severe shock and panic. It is quite evident that, the herbivore underwent severe panic and shock due to transportation from Kolkata Zoo to Nandankanan covering a stretch of above 300 km. The travel was quite new to him. As information goes the filarisis is curable if proper treatment is given at the proper time. The bugs are the carrier of this disease. It is quite common that the both carnivorous as well as herbivorous animals are usually attacked by these bugs who are generally blood suckers. Unhygienic condition of animal farm invites gross population of bugs.
The writer is a founder employee of Nandankanan and another founder officer of Nandankanan who is still alive is Dr Chitaranjan Mohapatra, a retired chief conservator of forests, Odisha. We were assigned the duty of establishment of the park during 1961-62 and were staying in the tents within the park yard. The task was arduous as a shape was to be given to a new concept of keeping animals and birds in captivity.
Now, the authorities of Alipore Zoo and Nandankanan are engaged in mudslinging and passing buck on each other. A commission consisting of eminent veterinarians and wildlife experts has been instituted to probe the case and bring out the truth. In the past many commissions were instituted to bring the lapses to the public light on unusual death of zoo animals and smuggling of birds, but all the commissions were proved futile. The need of the hour is to strengthen the administrative mechanism of the park.
In 2006 the effort to bring a giraffe from the same Alipore Zoo to Nandankanan had failed as the animal could not reach Nandankanan and met death on the way due to accident with live electric transmission wire. Again recently four tiger cubs were killed in the zoo. But accountability is yet to be fixed on anyone for such major lapses.
Unusual death of animals and birds creates doubt on the sincerity of the park custodians in taking care of the captives.
The death of the giraffe should be intensively investigated and people found responsible should be brought to book. The zoo managers and the wild lifers of every zoo should maintain field diary of every captive animals and birds. As per sources, such diaries are not maintained in Nandankanan.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist. Tel no 9937460649)