Birds hit in war of words

The park found itself in the eye of a storm when its maintenance and the feeding of birds was called into question by Wild, a wildlife organisation. Wild alleged that the birds were undernourished and that their living conditions were deplorable. Says Vilas Pansare of Wild, “When Shekhar Nanajkar, president, Wild and I visited the park on July 18, we found that the ducks were not being fed as per the requirement of their diet and had started to eat the grass near their enclosure. One of the workers there informed us that while earlier they used to be fed up to four bucketsful of chaff everyday they are now being fed only one bucket. The grains given to the guineafowl and pigeons was found to be adulterated with mud and cigarette butts. Instead of their staple diet of carrots, the rabbits were being given grass cut from the park. The ducks’ pond had not been cleaned and their enclosure was wet due to the rains. One of the peacocks has lost its crest due to the wrong kind of diet. Whatever the debate betweenthe PMC and Jog, it is the birds who have been suffering for the past two months.”

The debate in question relates to the delay in signing the agreement between the two parties. Says Yeshwant Khaire, garden superintendent, PMC, “Jog had lost the agreement papers and had not taken the permission of the municipal commissioner to collect gate fees. When he began to collect the fee, we had to intervene. Until fresh papers were prepared we could not allow anyone to levy the gate fee. The maintenance of the park continued to remain in Jog’s hands.” Following the allegations of Wild, Additional Municipal Commissioner Deepak Kapoor inquired into the matter. An agreement was arrived at and signed on Sunday according to which Jog would run the park at an annual rent of Rs. 75,000 and was to be solely responsible for the maintenance of the birds. Dr. Kazrin Umrigar was to visit the zoo to examine birds. On Monday, in a volte face, the PMC cancelled the agreement signed with Jog.

Says Kapoor whose decision followed a surprise visit to the park on Monday, “I found it in an appalling state. The ducks’ cage had not been cleaned, the peacocks were not being given their habitual diet of milk and bread and the lights of the park were broken. When I asked Jog why the ducks’ enclosure had not been cleaned he (Jog) said he had not been provided with labour. As the onus of the responsibility fell on me, I asked him to cancel the agreement if the park could not be run in an organised way.” Jog denies the allegation of not providing the birds with adequate nourishing feed. “My own birds are among the ones owned by the PMC. Why would the feed not be provided to them? A doctor from the PMC has submitted a report about how healthy the birds are. We may have changed their diet but that does not mean they were not being given nutritious food. I did not want to interfere in the matter and be blamed for something that did not happen, so I decided to cancel the agreement,” he says.

When this reporter went to the park on Wednesday, the PMC had already taken over the management of the park. Some ducks whose feathers were injured needed medical care. The pond, where mud had collected, was being dredged and cleaned. Two PMC bird park attendants were engaged in sorting the provisions consisting of guavas, sweet lime, apples, carrots and grain for the birds. Within a week, Jog will take back his birds. “The Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park will have a more modern accommodation for the birds. So we plan to introduce new birds there. The remaining 50 birds will continue to be at the Thorat Udyan ,” says Kapoor. Let’s hope the birds at Thorat Udyan are the ones to benefit from it all.