BENGALURU: Zoos and rescue centres are becoming jails for wild, rescued animals, fear forest department officials and conservationists. This should end and proper guidelines must be chalked out to reduce animals becoming permanent inmates at rescue centres, they say.
But that is not the big worry. Another matter of concern that has caught the attention of forest officials and conservationists is the discrimination among carnivores with regard to housing -- all rescued tigers are sent to Mysuru, and all leopards are sent to Bannerghatta, said a veterinarian, seeking anonymity. Due to this, Bannerghatta rescue centre has over 35 rescued leopards, and Mysuru has 8-10 rescued tigers.
In three days, three leopards were rescued from man-animal conflict sites from different locations around Bengaluru. On October 21, a wild injured tiger was shifted from Bandipur Tiger Reserve to the Mysuru rescue centre. Due to space constraint in the Mysuru centre, an injured tiger captured at Nagarahole Tiger Reserve was sent to Bannerghatta centre.
“As per Central Zoo Authority and Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change norms, rescued wild animals cannot be kept on display in zoos. So these animals stay in captivity all their life. Due to lack of understanding of wildlife and sheer enthusiasm, farmers and villagers nowadays approach the forest department will leopard cubs, some just 5-10 days old. They say they found them whining in paddy, sugarcane and other fields.
But they fail to understand that their mother must have left the cubs to go on a hunt for food, or find a more secure place. Since these cubs are imprinted by humans, they cannot be left in the wild and such young ones do not survive, so they too continue to stay in the rescue centre. The cubs are in Bannerghatta,” said a forest department official.
Veterinarians point that as per protocol, animals who are severely injured, or whose canines or claws are broken, are not able to hunt and are housed in rescue centres. “All animals being shifted from the wild, or rescue centres should stop,” a senior forest vet said.