Zoo tells drug inspectors it hasn't got enough Berelin injections for testing

Zoo tells drug inspectors it hasn't got enough Berelin injections for testing
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

BHUBANESWAR, JULY 6: With the death of another ailing tiger, Shyamala, this morning, Nandankanan Zoo, about 13 km from here, remains in a state of shock. Veterinary officers of the official health team and other officials are monitoring the condition of the six surviving tigers who are stated to be out of danger. Despite the worldwide outrage, no official has been held responsible so far. And investigations have already hit a roadblock with the zoo claiming that it hasn't got enough samples of the Berelin injection to give for testing. The zoo was kept open for visitors today.

While the post-mortem reports submitted by the Veterinary College of Orissa University of Agriculture today confirmed that all the tigers had died due to trypanosomiasis, Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Dr S K Patnaik and a member of the health team, Dr S K Ray, defended the administering of Berelin, saying it was the widely accepted medicine for the disease.

Wiser after the event, Ray added that the quality of the injections and the stage of infection, which had earlier not been taken into consideration, will throw some light on the possible cause of the epidemic.

An indication of the manner in which investigations are being conducted -- if any -- came from the fact that a team of the drugs control department, comprising drug inspector of Khurda district R N Mallick and assistant drug controller Biswajit Patnaik, which came to the zoo to collect samples of the Berenil injection returned empty-handed today after waiting for hours. They were told the zoo didn't have enough samples.

Senior veterinary officer of the zoo Dr A S Rao, who was supervising the administration of injections to the 17 infected tigers, told them they had only two injections (5 ml each) left at the hospital as the rest had been administered on Monday.

Mallick said for conducting a quality test they needed at least 40 injections of the same batch numbers which were given to the dead tigers. If the samples are supplied by the zoo, these will be sent to the Indian Institute of Veterinary Research and Laboratory at Ijjatnagar in Ghaziabad which is the only centre for the test.

``Though usually testing takes about six months, in this case the state government has decided to send a special message to the institute to complete the test in a fortnight,'' Mallick said. Since it's being claimed there are no samples, this is all hypothetical.

Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Manoj Mohapatra claimed precautionary measures were being taken in the zoo. A drug, Antycid, had been rushed to the zoo from Calcutta and had been given to the seven infected tigers. After tiger Shyamala's body was burnt on Thursday morning, the tiger and lion enclosures were sprayed with medicines to prevent vectors, he added.

Meanwhile, there was a furore in the Assembly with the opposition Congress and Janata Dal-S members staging a walkout over the issue, alleging that continued neglect of the animals by the zoo authorities had led to the deaths. Before staging the walkout, leader of the Opposition Ramakant Mishra demanded that the state government should set up a judicial inquiry to probe the incident.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party members also did not spare the government, alleging that the deaths of so many tigers would not have occurred had the authorities taken precautionary measures on June 23, when the first tiger died.

The issue cropped up during a discussion on the admissibility of a notice for an adjournment motion on the incident.

Feeding the tigers stale meat, overcrowding of the zoo owing to increase in the number of tigers and reduced allocations for the zoo also came in for criticism from the members.