Zoo wants animal remains,so won’t cremate its dead

Last year,the zoo started the exhibition of animal remains at the Education Centre,next to the Lion Tailed Macaque enclosure. Antlers of six deer species and preserved bodies of five baby animals are on display here.

“Visitors can learn more about the animals by looking at them closely. By October,we expect to increase our collection,since we will be starting another exhibition then to commemorate Wildlife Week that is held between October 1 and 7,” said R A Khan,Curator (Education),Delhi Zoo.

The zoo now wants to add animal parts such as teeth,claws,skeleton and hooves to the exhibition. According to a zoo official,in the past,the zoo disposed of the bodies as keeping the remains was deemed dangerous. “There is a huge market for animal products. There was an apprehension that keeping animal remains will lead to theft and other complications,” he said.

In the current exhibition,visitors are allowed to touch the antlers,instead of looking at them through glass panes. The exhibition has antlers of Hog Deer,Thamin Deer,Spotted Deer,Swamp Deer,Sambhar Deer and Sikka Deer,the last one being an exotic specie brought from Japan.

Among the preserved animals is a baby chimpanzee,jaguar cub,white tiger cub,Bengal tiger cub,nilgai embryo and a full grown cobra. The egg of Emu,the second largest bird from Australia is also displayed.

About the antlers,zoo officials said deers shed their antlers every year and the zoo has collected them from within the deer enclosures. “In the wild,tigers and lions gather the antlers and feed on them as they are a great source of calcium. That is why people rarely come across antlers when they are traveling in the wild,” said a zoo official. He added that as antelopes do not shed their antlers,they will have to wait till an antelope dies to collect it.

At present,smaller animals are cremated in electrical crematorium located within the zoo,while bigger animals are cremated in the open. The zoo hospital has,however,been alerted to bury the bodies of the bigger animals.