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Papri Sri Raman in Madras
Seventeen emaciated animals, including six lions, rescued from a private zoo in Tamil Nadu have found a new home.
The animals rescued on July 31 at Kuzhithurai, in Tirunelveli district, include three lion cubs, two lions, a lioness, a porcupine, a jackal, three macaque, two owls, two palm civet cats, a squirrel and a python.
The zoo owner, identified as Kerala resident M A Salim, had kept them in tiny cages. Officials said it could not be immediately determined how long they have been held captive. Salim is absconding.
The animals used to be taken around for exhibition in festivals and fairs.
On Thursday, the animals reached the lion safari at the Arignar Anna zoo at Vandalur, on the outskirts of Madras, arriving from Tirunelvli after a 25-hour road journey.
Zoo officials here found that the animals had become completely unused to wilderness. A veterinary doctor who examined the animals said: "They had been caged for so long that even the jackals had lost their natural instincts."
They were provided water and 25 kg of beef Thursday night, but it was water the animals chose after their harrowing journey.
The animals would be kept in quarantine before they are let out into common enclosures.
These are not the only illegally confined animals rescued in recent months. In May 11 lions seized from two traveling zoos in Tamil Nadu were brought to Vandalur. According to V Irulandi, director of the Vandalur zoo: "The quarantine area is small for the number of animals being regularly seized from private showmen."
The Central Zoo Authority of India has provided the Vandalur zoo with an additional facility, a Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.
Sixteen lions seized from a private zoo at Sangli in Maharahtra are due to arrive at the center soon. After the quarantine period, they would be let out in the lion safari at the Vandalur Park, which already has 38 lions.
Zoo officials, however, have one major complaint. The Indian Wildlife Protection Act does not provide for protection to foreign species seized on Indian soil.
"Offenders, primarily animal exhibitors, showing these animals in rural India, often claim that the animals are of foreign breed. Most of them are hybrids. Just a certificate of ownership is enough for a person to keep these animals. It is not known how these animals are acquired and transported to India," the director said.
"It is difficult for us to rescue the foreign animals because of the loophole in the Act," another official said. "There are many such animals held privately in cramped and appalling conditions waiting to be rescued.
"But for that the Act needs revision and the rescuers need more authority."
Indo-Asian News Service
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