ONE of the most visited entertainment venues in the provincial capital, Lahore Zoo, is lacking basic health facilities for the wild animals while there are no arrangements to cope with any emergency situation.Operating under the provincial Wildlife and Parks Department, the Lahore Zoo is home to over 1,000 animals of various species including birds, reptiles and mammals.

A visit to the Lahore Zoo on Friday showed that there was only one veterinary doctor available in the zoo to take care of over 1,000 animals and that there is no veterinary infirmary inside the Lahore zoo like other modern cities of the world and in case of an emergency the staff has no option but to call for doctors from other places who take a long time to arrive.

The facilities at the Lahore Zoo provided by the administration are far below international standards maintained at any zoo in a city like Lahore, especially when compared with the revenue earned from the large number of visitors to it. Sources said every group of animals were provided with a specialist veterinary doctor in any modern zoo in the world, but this practice was not witnessed in the Lahore Zoo as there was only one veterinary officer for all the animals there. When asked, Director Lahore Zoo Zafar Shah said one veterinarian was enough for the Lahore Zoo. He was of the view that even humans in this city were not getting enough medical facilities, so how could we provide zoo animals with modern healthcare according to international standards.

Lahore Zoo has no examination rooms, no X-ray machines, no ultra sound equipment, no stretchers for sick animals and no ambulances. This is why most of the times the zoo administration takes no ‘risk’ to move animals to the veterinary hospital in the city for emergency treatment. Sources in the Lahore Zoo claimed that in case of an emergency, the animals were left in their cages and the administration “hopes for the best”. During the visit of the Lahore Zoo, it was also observed that there were no trained animal handlers and the present zoo keepers have no expertise in handling sedative darts, the sources said, adding most of the animal handlers at the zoo are illiterate and have no qualification in the subject. The sources said that the medical staff at the zoo consisted of three assistants and one veterinary officer. In January 2009, the zoo administration interviewed another doctor but still the post was vacant. Delay in the appointment of another doctor has also caused unrest among the present staffers who were of the view that their duty was very hectic.

The sources further said that there were no expert guides available at the zoo, so people especially children, who visit there learn nothing. Animals are therefore, at the mercy of people who throw food items, cigarettes and plastic bags in their enclosures. A giraffe at the zoo had already died of suffocation due to a plastic bag. The sources claimed that the administration has no control on bringing in of polythene bags, which was one of the major demands of the present medical staffers serving in the zoo. The sources said though sign boards were placed in zoo regarding ban on plastic bags in the zoo but no practical check was available.

Along with all other lacking facilities, the method of food presentation at the zoo is downright derogatory. The bear pond at the zoo is dirty and had permanent algae film on the water. The bears don’t go near it. The sources maintained that Lahore Safari Park at Raiwind has also no veterinary officer and in the case of an emergency, they call the veterinary officer of then Lahore Zoo and at that time Lahore Zoo had no other veterinary officer to take care of the animals.

The sources said that a car for transportation of medical staff, X-ray machine and some other machinery has been approved for the Lahore Zoo but this equipment was yet to be provided to the zoo by the Punjab government. Zafar Shah said that the zoo also did not need any equipment and in case of an emergency the administration used to bring X-Ray or Ultra Sound Machine in the Zoo. He opposed purchasing of these machines for the zoo on the pretext that they would be eroded because of less use