Eleventh tiger gone in 48 hours, Govt sets up a committee and waits

Eleventh tiger gone in 48 hours, Govt sets up a committee and waits
NIRMALA GEORGE

NEW DELHI, JULY 6: As yet another tiger died of sleeping sickness or trypanosomiasis at Orissa's Nandankanan Zoo, taking the toll to 11 in the past 48 hours, animal rights activist and Union Minister Maneka Gandhi sent an SOS to tiger experts in the UK for last-ditch measures to save the remaining big cats. The experts from the Born Free Foundation are flying in after an SOS call from Maneka early this morning.

As the situation at the zoo remains grim, no responsibility has been fixed so far and no action taken. The Centre has simply set up an expert team to probe the deaths and determine if there had been any laxity on the part of the zoo authorities in treating the animals.

According to Additional IG (Forests) S C Sharma, the fact-finding team would include three veterinary doctors and zoo directors who will visit the zoo and examine all aspects of the care given to the tigers, including medical treatment, housing and sanitation, and look into the possible causes of the mass deaths.

Since the tigers were cremated after a cursory postmortem done on one tiger at the Cuttack Medical College Hospital, already doubts are being raised about what the probe would achieve.

And the Centre has not included any member of an NGO or any expert from outside the Government system in the investigative committee. This has led to animal welfare activists alleging that the probe could turn out to be just an eyewash.

``It could have been an oversight or it could have been deliberate. There should have been at least one active member of the Central Zoo Authority or an NGO,'' said Ashok Kumar, President, Wildlife Protection Society of India.

Even Maneka's call to international experts has not been quite welcome to the ruling babudom. Sharma categorically declared that India had enough experts and did not need any ``foreign help''. This is hotly contested by NGOs working with animals in the country who have for long lamented the absence of a dedicated zoo cadre or even veterinary doctors who have specialised in treating animals in the wild.

The Born Free Foundation was set up by Virginia Mackenna, the actress who played the lead role in the hugely-popular film of the sixties, Born Free, from the proceeds of the film. The organisation is involved in promoting the rights of animals to remain in their natural habitat and offers advice on the care of wild and captive animals.

According to veterinary experts, trypanosomiasis, also known as tick fever in animals, is a common occurrence among canines, felines and other animal species during the monsoon.

Tigers or other animals who contract the disease have dry noses and leaking and pus-filled eyes, accompanied by high fever and loss of appetite. In the advanced stage, the animal develops haemophilia-type symptoms, bleeding internally and later from the nose and ears.

Animal caretakers are aware that since the monsoon is the time when tick infestations occur, animals need to be given two injections of Bernil, a drug which is freely available. ``All it needed was two injections, costing Rs 15 each, to be given to the animals before the rains or even when it was evident that the tigers were ill. Why did they have to wait for six weeks till it was too late?'' asks Maneka.

Shocked animal welfare activists are also sore that the state government had failed to take any action on a report filed by some of them on the conditions in Nandankanan Zoo after last year's super-cyclone. The report had been sent to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik but no action was taken. ``Such a tragedy was waiting to happen,'' they say. NGOs working in Orissa speak of rampant mismanagement of funds and administrative lethargyin the zoo, which had reduced the zoo to an enclosure of diseases.

Though the tigers roam free in their enclosures at Nandankan, the zoo does not have tranquiliser guns which make it difficult for the workers to administer drugs to the animals. And the absence of a zoo cadre means sweepers and cleaners are given the job of taking care of sick animals in zoos across the country, say NGO representatives.

The Central team formed by Union Minister for Environment and Forests T R Baalu to investigate the deaths includes Pushpa Kumar, a Hyderabad-based zoo architect, S K Patnaik, Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Dr P Chakravarthy, Director of the Bannerghatta National Park, Karnataka -- which has tigers living in very similar conditions as Nandankanan -- and M Manoharan, veterinary doctor from the Vandalur Zoo in Chennai. P R Sinha, Member-Secretary, Central Zoo Authority, will head the probe.