State zoos turn deathtrap for translocated big cats

October 12, 2016 12:00 am | Updated 05:41 am IST - KALPETTA:

Greens say three of five big cats shifted from Wayanad sanctuary in four years have died

The tigress which was translocated to the Thrissur zoo from the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary on Sunday night.

The tigress which was translocated to the Thrissur zoo from the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary on Sunday night.

A day after a tigress trapped inside a coffee plantation at Armad, near Sulthan Bathery, on the fringes of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WSS), was shifted to the Thrissur zoo for treatment, animal activists have urged the authorities to discourage translocation of tigers from the sanctuary to zoos in Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram.

“Many a time caging and translocation turn to be lethal to the animals as it can lead to capture myopathy. Three of the five big cats translocated from the sanctuary in the past four years were dead in a short time,” they said.

In a petition addressed to Inspector General (IG), Ministry of Environment and Forest, V.K. Venkitachalam, secretary of the Thrissur-based Heritage Animal Task Force, said as many as five big cats had been caged and three shot dead in the sanctuary since December 2012.

Unlawful

Capturing tigers from the wild and keeping them inside zoos in the State were unlawful as these zoos lacked any scientific methods for diagnosing the diseases of wild animals, including tigers.

Mr. Venkitachalam urged the IG to issue strict orders to the officials of the Forest and Zoo departments to stop shifting wild tigers to the zoos. Moreover, the Thrissur zoo has no recognition of the Central Zoo Authority for the past 12 years, he added.

“It is better to set up a rehabilitation centre in Wayanad, similar to the one in the Bannerghatta National Park in Karnataka, to deal with the issue,” S. Guruvayurappan, environmentalist, said.

Priority to save life

However P. Dhaneshkumar, warden, WSS, told The Hindu that their priority was to save the life of the animal which had a wound on its forelimb. As there were no rehabilitation centres in the State, the only possible way to save its life was to translocate it to the zoo, he said.

The department was seriously considering to set up a rehabilitation centre for the purpose, he added.

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