Adil Najam and Owais Mughal
The phase of unrest and ‘zulm’ that Pakistani society is passing through, now seems to have made inroads in the Animal Kingdom.
Three precious animals have died in Lahore area zoos in the past 1 week and from news it looks like all deaths were preventable. A giraffe, a Bengal tiger and a neel gaaye (an antelope) are those who lost their lives.
Following two news have appeared in national press which give details of these accidents.
(1) Daily Times of January 2, 2009
A zebra attacked a female giraffe in the city zoo on Thursday afternoon and killed it in presence of zoo staff and dozens of visitors. According to sources, three giraffe, a male and two females, were imported from Australia in 2007 at a cost of Rs 7.4 million and were kept in one compound without keeping in view the risk factors.
On Thursday, a zebra attacked the giraffe and kicked it to death. The zoo staff was also present, but could not do anything to save the animal. An inquiry committee has been set up to investigate the incident. It will present its report to the Wildlife Department director general in a couple of days. aaj kal report
(2) The Daily Jang – Web Update, January 9, 2009
After eating the meat of a dead antelope (neel gaaye), the Bengal Tiger of the Woodland Zoo located on Raiwind Road Lahore also died. Earlier the neel gaaye had died after being bitten by some poisonous insect. The staff of the zoo used dead neel gaaye’s meat to feed the Bengal Tiger who also died after eating the meat. The deputy director of Woodland Park claims tiger did not die because of eating ‘neel gaaye’s meat. They will conduct post mortem to find out the exact cause of tiger’s death. The exact news as it appeared in jang is below:
Some Other Posts at ATP:
1. Baluchitherium: The Beast of Balochistan
2. The Leaping Oxen of Kanjwani
Excellent selection of stories. There is both humor and sadness in these small incidents. And also large lessons.
In a society where we do not care about animals, and even most of the commenters do not, can we expect caring and empathy for each other?
Yaar Haroon
Some of the readers here are totally humourless… chorr do inn becharon ko aapny haal par!
BTW, loved the post. Very refreshing.
Great Post Owais.
If its All Things Pakistan then its ALL things Pakistan.
By the way Watan Aziz saab, chill it. Zebras and Girraffe’s ARE supposed to be in the same “pen” (enclosure, really) in most decent zoos. “Pens” itself shows a certain mindset that need psychiatric help. Visit a few zoos man! It will help you.
And any high school kid knows that zebras and girraffes actually fight often, both in zoos and in real. Maybe readers should read beyond the newspaper headlines to make half-sensible comments!
Anyhow, as a metaphor for what is happening in our society at large. Which I think this most is. It is a great post. Thanks.
~~The phase of unrest and
ADIL AND OWAIS BAITE HAR JAGAH AYESHA HI HOTA HAY AAP KIRE NIKALO GAY TOU PATAH CHALAIGA MAGAR AAP BHI KIA KARO AAP KA TOU KAM HI YEHI HAY….MAAF KARNA