Mumbai Zoo Mumbai Zoo news

Chlidonias

Chlidonias

Moderator
Staff member
15+ year member
Zoo, an old-age home for animals- Hindustan Times
Most inmates of the Byculla zoo have crossed their average expected life span. In the last one year, a bear, a blackbuck and a hippopotamus have died because of old age.

Anita, the pure Asiatic breed lioness, is 22-years-old and has crossed the expected lifespan of 20 years. Jamuna the Himalayan bear whose mate Mangal died this month is 35 years old, which is the average life span for a bear. The two striped hyenas are 20 years old, leaving them five years to touch the end of their lifespan.

“Animals who have surpassed their lifespan often fall ill,” said a zoo official. The two hyenas keep themselves inside their cave and seldom come out.

The zoo that came into place in 1862 is one of the country’s oldest zoos spread over 52 acres. It houses 189 mammals of 20 species, 449 birds of 38 species and 43 reptiles of 9 species. No new animal can be brought to the zoo, according to a high court order following a PIL filed by People for Ethical Treatment to Animals in October 2004.

The order says no new animal can be brought till the conditions of the enclosures improve. “This is likely to happen only after the zoo makeover,” said A. Ajankar, director of the zoo.

The Rs 433-crore makeover is stuck at the permission stage as the heritage committee is not happy with the current plan.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner Garden and Zoo, Chandrashekhar Rokde said, “Visitors too complain about ageing animals. But this is a problem with most zoos.”

Shiva, the rhinoceros who is 32 years old, (his lifespan is between 35-40 years) has been waiting for a mate, but until the makeover is complete he can’t have one. There are 78 black bucks and 60 per cent of them are older than 12 years, their life span is between 12 and 15 years.

The two elephants Laxmi and Anarkali are also ageing. The authorities are planning to loan a few barking deer and black bucks to the Katraj zoo in Pune for breeding. “Once the new zoo is ready, their offspring can be brought back,” added Anjankar.
Click to expand...
 
Surprised to learn that an Indian rhino whose bloodline is not represented in captivity cannot be loaned out to another facility for conservation breeding purposes by the very fact that a Masterplan is not fully approved? :confused:

The first and foremost issue in Indian zoos remains the mind boggling bureacracy. :mad:
 
First: Another example of how Indian bureaucracy is preventing zoos from modernising their facilities.

Experts visit Byculla Zoo to take stock of makeover plan


Issues preventing zoos from doing the right thing in India:

First, ever present bureaucracy. See above and beyond.

Second, decision making process. There is also too much quango-like intervention in zoo management at various levels, from Council up to State and Federal.

Third: Conservation breeding programmes will never work if and when the State or Federal need to decide every bloody move or proposal by a Species Coordinator.

Fourth: For as long as the serving in the Forestry Service is deemed sufficient to be responsible for zoo management, wild animal veterinary services or animal care staff ..., that is another no-no.
 
whenever I read these press releases about the Byculla Zoo, as in this case talking about their great numbers of birds, I think back to my visit and go "hmmm, that doesn't sound right...".

My review here: Mumbai Zoo visit, January 2017
 
Mr Molt, who lost chick, is back on his feet and molting - Times of India

Context: Mumbai Zoo has been trying to get going with an ambitious renovation plan that includes bringing in a ton of African, South American and Australasian species. It was always going to be an uphill task since we could barely maintain our existing, mostly Indian stock. The zoo's generally in shambles. Most of us who want to see it become a functional, successful facility didn't welcome the decision to start with Humboldt penguins... but here we are.

So, the penguins bred in August. Chick was born on Indian independence day. Died a couple days later. This article is about the father.

Personally, I'd rather see the zoo focus on improving its existing facilities, and then bringing in more Indian species to replace those that have been lost due to mismanagement and horrible exhibits in the past. Then, maybe we can consider some African species to boost attendance. Not sure what the best course of action is on the penguins. Has anyone here followed this at all?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top