KARACHI: An air-cooler has been installed inside the enclosure of a brown bear at the Karachi Zoo following the orders of the Sindh High Court.
The SHC ordered the zoo administration to install the air-cooler after a petition was filed seeking the relocation of the bear due to insufficient facilities and worsening condition at the Karachi Zoo.
The petitioners said the bear named ‘Rano’ required special attention for survival. They claimed that the bear had been forcibly separated from its parents which was an act of cruelty as the bear was still at an early age.
The petition said that Syrian brown bears can only survive in a cool atmosphere as its natural habitat was mountainous forests, grasslands and meadows. They added that lack of such an atmosphere had made the brown bear extinct from countries like Syria and the region.
The Sindh High Court (SHC) has constituted a committee comprising the chief wildlife conservator, veterinary doctors and a private zoo architect to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Karachi Zoo and submit proposals to ensure proper management and care of animals being kept at the zoo.
The high court was requested to direct the zoo administration to immediately transfer the bear to Skardu where it could be reunited with its family in a natural habitat and ensure proper maintenance of hygiene, living conditions and health care to all other animals kept at the zoo.
A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Shafi expressed dissatisfaction at the zoo department’s report. The SHC directed the KMC and other officials concerned to take prompt and immediate action to provide an environment close to natural habitat to the bear.
