Big cat-astrophe

Big cat-astrophe

Not many people in India could have known that Nandankanan has the largest tiger population of any zoo in the world. After this week's catastrophic deaths, Nandankanan will be known throughout the world as the zoo where the largest number of tigers died in 24 hours. It is an unbelievable tragedy.

Questions about what happened fly thick and fast; there are few answers. As teams of experts from Orissa and the Centre begin their investigations, everyone waits to hear whether the other 40 or more tigers are safe, what exactly caused the deaths of 10 and whether they could have been saved with appropriate and timely intervention. Another unsolved mystery they will doubtless want to go into concerns a spotted deer seen in photos lying dead among the tigers. How many other species are being threatened by the invisible killer? The number of inexplicable features about the tiger deaths is disturbing. A zoo this size would be expected to disseminate information clearly and quickly instead of which more than 24 hourslater there are almost no hard facts.

Nandankanan does not appear to have been entirely bereft of specialists in animal diseases. Several resources were either at hand or available at the other end of a phone or on the Internet. The zoo had a veterinary officer, possibly more than one, and in case of need the authorities could call on the expertise of the veterinary department of the Orissa University at Bhubaneswar who, in turn, could call on experts in other parts of the country. Given those resources it is hard to understand how 10 big cats could have died one week after the first death due to a suspected contagious disease.

It is essential to pinpoint the precise causes. Several scenarios have been suggested by outside experts. A contagious disease spreads rapidly and is not detected in time. When eventually detected, the wrong drugs are administered. The competence of zoo authorities and staff is highly questionable. Add to that the perennial shortcomings of India's public institutions, a shortage of funds and poor supervision, and it could be a recipe for disaster. The Orissa government must not rest until all the facts are in and must then not hesitate to punish those responsible for causing this national loss.

A longer term concern is the huge tiger population in Nandankanan. The numbers are excessive. Why is it necessary to keep as many as 54 tigers in captivity? No one claims high standards of animal care exist there. Indeed it is alleged there are too many animals to look after and not enough trained staff to do the job. But even in the best of conditions, zoos are not the ideal habitat for any species, leave alone endangered big cats. If zoos can be justified on grounds of education and preservation, something more is needed to explain why as many as 54 tigers were housed in one place.

Ideally a majority of those tigers should have been in the forest and, where forest habitats are threatened by development, in designated tiger reserves. The disaster in Nandankanan must lead to fresh thinking about how to look after India's tigers.