Karachi Safari Park

kiang

kiang

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Four young African elephants have arrived at a safari park in Karachi, Pakistan.
The housing looks far from ideal.

 
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At the very least they could let the elephants mingle together without bars between them :(

I suppose they were cull rescues?
 
No. The Tanzanian Government was paid to capture juvenile elephants for the zoo. Until recently, this was considered unacceptable, but now it seems to be big business again.
 
Are this small pens all they elephants will have access to, or are this simply quarantine pens??
 
Whereas I know the SAZARC is developing its zoos progressively, I would rather that these zoos would concentrate on preserving the local fauna and flora first, introduce basic and minimum husbandry standards and adequate exhibit design, before indulging in acquisition of exotic species.

I cannot make any informed judgement on this particular facility as I lack sufficient annual data on acquisitions, transfers, births and deaths at the facility.

However, I personally know of an earlier import for Karachi Zoo - if I am correct - from South Africa where at least 10-15 individuals on import died with 30-45 days from import. This clearly indicates a lack of adequate quaraintine procedures, trained staff and inadequate exhibit design. Hence, I will follow this import very closely with the Karachi Zoo and Safari Park.
 
If you read on you will find that the zoo now only has one elephant (where the 2 females were sent to). It seems that conditions in the safari park are better, but I would think 1.1 is not a social group … (and the female now residing int a sub-standard enclosure in the zoo would be best coming back).
 
vogelcommando said:
Weapons found at the Safari Park :
Among the weapons found at the site were anti-aircraft guns, rifles, SMGs, LMGs, hand grenades and snipers. A large quantity of different types of bullets and cartridges were also recovered from the location.
Rangers recover huge cache of weapons in raid at Karachi's Safari Park
Click to expand...
vogelcommando said:
Weapons found at the Safari Park :

Rangers recover huge cache of weapons in raid at Karachi's Safari Park
Click to expand...

Read this: among the weapons found at the site were anti-aircraft guns, rifles, SMGs, LMGs, hand grenades and snipers. A large quantity of different types of bullets and cartridges were also recovered from the location.

A safari park?
 
The 2 (remaining ?) African Elephants are under medical treatment for tuberculosis ; it sounded surprising for me (the treatment, not the disease) as I wasn't aware of any treatment against tuberculosis for elephants, even in more affluent countries.
Does anyone knows more about these treatments ?
GEO France on Instagram: " Traitement de choc pour deux éléphantes atteintes de tuberculose au Pakistan Au parc animalier de Karachi, Malika et Madhubala reçoivent un soin inédit : plus de 400 comprimés chacune, dissimulés dans des boulettes de riz préparées avec soin par 18 employés mobilisés. Une mission de longue haleine pour soigner cette maladie endémique, avec une posologie ajustée au poids XXL des éléphantes… et un traitement à suivre pendant plus d’un an ! #pakistan #elephante #actu #tuberculose #information"
 
Haliaeetus said:
Does anyone knows more about these treatments ?
Click to expand...

Working / circus / zoo elephants are in most cases infected by the same type of tuberculosis species like humans (Mycobacterium tuberculosis). It is a zoonotic disease, elephants get infected by their human caretakers. Diagnostics and treatment is also the same in humans like in elephants - simply because we have nothing better. First the TB strain is either genotyped or (if you get viable sample) grown in lab to test it for possible resistance to available antibiotics. And then you decide on a mix of at least 3 (better 4) antibiotic drugs. Anti-TB drugs of first line are ethambutol, isoniazid, rifampicin and pyrazinamide (formerly also streptomycin, but it gets now usually eliminated for side effects like deafness). They are reasonably priced but it can get rather expensive if you consider what amount you have to buy for an animal with the weight of an elephant and the lenght of treatment that is at least 6 months and can be 2 years or more. In rare case the mentioned first-line antibiotics dont work, and you would need any second-line ones, treatment becomes prohibively expensive.

In Europe, the US and other developed countries, any domestic or captive animal diagnosed with some sort of TB (there are dozens of different types) would be immediatelly culled, together often with the rest of herd, to protect other animals and their human caretakers. This is also the reason why we have probably no specialised treatment protocol for TB animals. Only zoo animals with very high sentimental value like elephants or apes get pardoned on case by case rule and their treatment is attempted.
 
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Haliaeetus said:
The 2 (remaining ?) African Elephants are under medical treatment for tuberculosis ; it sounded surprising for me (the treatment, not the disease) as I wasn't aware of any treatment against tuberculosis for elephants, even in more affluent countries.
Does anyone knows more about these treatments ?
GEO France on Instagram: " Traitement de choc pour deux éléphantes atteintes de tuberculose au Pakistan Au parc animalier de Karachi, Malika et Madhubala reçoivent un soin inédit : plus de 400 comprimés chacune, dissimulés dans des boulettes de riz préparées avec soin par 18 employés mobilisés. Une mission de longue haleine pour soigner cette maladie endémique, avec une posologie ajustée au poids XXL des éléphantes… et un traitement à suivre pendant plus d’un an ! #pakistan #elephante #actu #tuberculose #information"
Click to expand...
Reference Elephant Care International - Dr. Susan Mikota

https://www.elephantcare.org/search?q=Tuberculosis
 
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