SHC asks KMC if Syrian brown bear cub can survive at zoo

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday directed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to file a statement on whether the Syrian brown bear at the Karachi Zoo could survive in its present habitat or not.

The direction came on a petition filed by Mashal Khan and others seeking orders for the zoo administration to keep the bear cub, named Ranoo, in its natural habitat. They said the cub required special attention for its survival at the zoo. They claimed the bear had been forcibly separated from its parents, which amounted to cruelty because the animal was still too young to survive without its parents.

The petitioners also maintained that the severely hot weather of Karachi was unlike the natural habitat of Syrian brown bears. They said the species could only survive in a cold atmosphere and stay healthy in a habitat of snow, forests, grasslands and meadows of mountainous regions. They added that due to a lack of such environment, brown bears had become extinct in countries like Syria and the neighbouring region.

They requested the high court to order the zoo administration to immediately transfer the cub to Skardu where it could be reunited with its family in its natural habitat. The petitioners also sought a court order to ensure proper maintenance of hygiene, living conditions and health care of all the other animals at the Karachi Zoo.

The KMC zoo deputy director had earlier denied the petitioner’s claims in comments. He had claimed that the bear in question was the property of a private breeding farm and research centre, and it was received through an animal exchange programme in March 2017.

He also claimed the animal was an adult, and it had been living comfortably at the zoo since March 15, 2017, and its weight was between 100 and 110 kilogrammes. He pointed out that the question of forcible separation from parents did not arise because there was nothing wrong with the bear’s health, showing that it had fully acclimatised to the weather of Karachi.

He also denied the allegation of cruelty, saying that the zoo administration had been providing all the required facilities to the animals, including diet, treatment and management. The high court had on a previous hearing ordered the KMC and the zoo administration to start the required procedure for shifting the cub to its new enclosure at the zoo. The court said that it was also expected from the zoo administration that they will make sure that all the animals at the zoo were kept in a healthy and safe environment.

Food street

The Sindh High Court directed a provincial law officer to place the record of main roads and arteries in different countries where traffic flow was stopped for a certain period for the purpose of a food street.

The directive came during a hearing of a petition against the closure of Burnes Road during the evening hours for a food street. A division bench, headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, inquired the provincial law officer whether main streets and arteries were blocked in other countries for such a purpose.

The provincial law officer submitted that the flow of traffic of main streets and arteries was stopped in several cities like Karachi for a certain period for food streets. The court directed the provincial law officer to place on record the criteria for running food streets if practiced in other countries or cities.

It observed that people had to face problems due to the closure of main streets and arteries and it also caused accidents. The petitioner’s counsel submitted in the petition that an elderly woman had died due to the evening traffic restrictions on Burnes Road after she could not be provided with emergency medical relief.

According to the petition, the residents of the Burnes Road area have been facing extreme difficulties due to the decision of the district administration to block roads between 7pm and 2am for the food street.

The petitioner requested the court to direct the district administration to withdraw the notification with regard to the closure of roads so that the residents and other people were not denied access.