Karachi Zoo and Safari Park elephants are healthy, SHC told

All the four elephants being kept at the Karachi Zoo and the Safari Park have no health issues and need no medical assistance, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday.

Filing comments on an application seeking special medical care for the elephants being kept at the Karachi Zoological Gardens and the Safari Park, the KMC’s deputy director said that all the elephants are being kept with the utmost care and provided with all the necessities closest to their natural habitat.

He said that the elephants are being provided with adequate and comfortable space for walking, eating and bathing, as well as an atmosphere that is closest to their natural habitat, with a healthy diet.

The KMC official said that the petitioner, who is a representative of an NGO, had launched a campaign through their website and raised $17,637 (approximately Rs3 million) until March 10 in donations for the campaign.

The official claimed that the petitioner has been running an anti-state campaign by uploading slogans on their website that call for stopping the import of elephants into Pakistan.

He said that the KMC had been providing recreational facilities to people for the past seven decades, adding that the elephants called Anarkali and Madhubala had died at the ages of 68 and 60 respectively, and that they had been completely healthy during their lives.

He also said that all the four elephants at the Karachi Zoo and the Safari Park are nearing 11 years, and that they have not faced any sort of life-threatening or otherwise disturbing problems.

The KMC officer requested the court to call for any independent report from a veterinary department, an agriculture university, experts from the Lahore Zoo or local veterinarians. He said that one of the elephants, Malika, had suffered some minor cracks in her heel in January or February this year and had received timely treatment, adding that Malika was absolutely fine, healthy and in proper shape at present.

The applicant, an NGO for animals, had requested for an urgent hearing of its petition seeking the shifting of the elephants to an appropriate habitat. The petitioner said that the four elephants named Malika, Sonu, Noor Jehan and Madhubala were being kept at the Safari Park and the Karachi Zoo in concrete structures and improper condition, which was putting their lives at risk.

The NGO said that on the basis of video and photographic assessment, wildlife experts had concluded that the four elephants were being kept in a deplorable state. The organisation’s representative said that one of the elephants, Malika, was in a dire need of medical attention because according to veterinary experts, she was forced to put her weight on two legs since all four of her feet could not carry her weight.

The applicant said that serious health problems like arthritis, hernia, swelling in the knee joints, and overgrowth of foot soles and cuticles as well as inflammation were common in captive elephants, and that all the four animals showed signs of being afflicted with at least one of these ailments.

The high court had been requested to decide the petition with regard to the shifting of the

elephants to an appropriate habitat because the animals could suffer irreparable damage to their health.