Elephant Madhubala to be shifted to Safari Park before Eidul Azha

Sindh Minister for Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that all precautionary measures will be taken to shift elephant Madhubala to the Safari Park from the Karachi Zoo.

A proposal to build a sanctuary for elephants in the Safari park will be sent to the Sindh government, and complete scanning of all animals will also be done, he said while presiding over a meeting on the Karachi Zoo and the Safari Park on Friday.

Additional Chief Secretary Najam Ahmad Shah, Karachi Administrator Dr Syed Saifur Rehman, Four Paws team head Dr Aamir Khalili, Katrina Hussain, Sabina Dawood, Dr Javed Memon, zoo director Kunwar Ayub, Owais Khan Advocate and other members of the Four Paws team and officers also attended the meeting.

The provincial minister said the Sindh government was providing all kinds of support for the welfare of animals and they were saddened by the passing away of elephant Noor Jehan.

He said that the way the Four Paws team cooperated with the zoo management in the treatment of Noor Jehan was commendable. He hoped that they would continue to receive the support of this international organisation in the future so that if animals were sick, they could be treated with internationally accepted methods.

Administrator Dr Syed Saifur Rahman, while giving a briefing on this occasion, said the transfer of Madhubala from the Karachi Zoo would be carried out before Eidul Azha. He said a traffic plan had been prepared, and it would be implemented according to the procedures and criteria specified by the Four Paws team. He said that 20 acres of area had been allocated for the Safari Park for large animals.

Skill training for elephants has started, blood samples of three tigers and one tiger at the Karachi Zoo were collected on Thursday. All animals would be scanned in the same way. The administer said that the enclosure which would be built for Madhubala would be named after Noor Jehan.

Minister Nasir Shah said that he had proposed to build a 1,000-acre safari park on the Super Highway and it should also be reviewed so that a big safari park could be built for the citizens of Karachi.

He added that the health of the elephants Sonia and Malika, already present in the Safari Park, should be taken care of and they should also be fully scanned.

It was also decided that the second meeting of the task force would be held on May 4, in which the future course of action would be decided.