Tigers at Jaipur zoo find it tough to stomach anything

JAIPUR, AUG 11: Tigers at the Jaipur zoo have little choice. They are either served contaminated meat, which exposes them to infection, or...

JAIPUR, AUG 11: Tigers at the Jaipur zoo have little choice. They are either served contaminated meat, which exposes them to infection, or boiled meat that they refuse to touch. A white tigress — many of the same species died in Nandankanan recently — here is already suffering from severe pneumonia and is believed to have caught the infection from the meat.

P K Mehrotra, officer in-charge of the Apex Centre, says that samples of meat served to carnivores in the zoo have been found to be contaminated on at least four occasions. The Apex Centre identifies diseases in animals and treats them. “Samples taken when the meat was brought to the zoo and from the cages were infected with the same organisms as found in the nostrils of animals eating it,” says Mehrotra.

The organisms found in the meat include pasteuralla which, according to Mehrotra, is a virulent form of a pneumonia-causing germ and resistant to most antibiotics. The infection passes from the meat to the animals’ nose while eating or is transmitted through flies and mosquitoes.

The white tigress is believed to have caught pneumonia from this infection. Humidity, cold or stress could trigger off the disease in others any time, Mehrotra warns.

Asked if he had recommended that the animals be served boiled meat to prevent the infection, he is incredulous. “I never recommended boiled meat as animals eat only raw meat. I had asked them to wash the meat in water at 80-100 degrees centigrade so that the germs on the surface are killed,” he claims.

Zoo Director Maniram Poonia, however, says Mehrotra had recommended that the animals be served meat boiled for 10 minutes. He adds that he himself was aware that carnivores ate only raw meat, and so the zoo was now trying out meat kept in boiled water for 10 minutes. “We have written to the Wildlife Institute of India, the Central Zoo Authority and the Indian Veterinary Research Institute on whether this could interfere with the immune system of the animals,” Poonia adds.

But, as officials themselves point out, the zoo is yet to take any precautionary measure to ensure supply of clean meat, apart from merely asking the contractor to do so. They say that ideally, the meat of healthy buffalo calves should be served. But usually, it is old and diseased buffaloes which are slaughtered and supplied.

Story continues below this ad

Mehrotra notes that regular treatment cannot be provided to the animals for the disease as the carnivores need to be tranquillised every time. Apart from the cost (Rs 1,000 per dose), the combined effect of the drug and medicines can cause kidney failure. Prevention is the only way to save the animals, he says.