Sayajibaug Zoo under Central scanner

CZA Committee member Karthik Satyanarayan said he will not just be inspecting the details over the use of dead crows to shoo away crows in the deer enclosure but also into the death of one of the badly injured deer in the zoo. Other issues in the zoo will also be looked into,he said.

The use of dead crows to shoo away the birds came to light when a city-based animal activist Snehal Bhavsar of Gujarat Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA) took up the matter,accusing the zoo officials of killing over five to six crows while refusing to treat the injured deer.

She also alleged that the zoo officials had cremated the dead deer without formal procedures in order to cover up the entire issue.

Satyanarayan said: “Zoo is a social institution and there should be transparency in work. Animals get injured in every zoo,but it is the responsibility of the officials to treat the animals and improve the situation. We are not looking into the matter in isolation,but are taking into account all the problems associated to the zoo. We can come to a conclusion only by Monday evening. This is a very old zoo and the facilities here are quite primitive. We need to bring in a positive energy to develop this zoo.”

Meanwhile,zoo officials have been asked to produce various registers,such as fine registers for teasing animals and the like.

Bhavsar,who met CZA officials,said: “I have submitted all the details,evidences and photographs I have in this matter and also on other problems which has been happening in the past. I am sure CZA will be shocked to see the sorry state of affairs at the zoo. I have also informed him about the callous attitude of the zoo curator and other zoo officials and irregularities happening in the zoo premises.”

The CZA official will be inspecting Sayajibaug Zoo and the progress of the alternative site proposed at Ajwa.