BENGALURU: The death of an eight-month pregnant zebra, Kavya, at Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) has raised questions about the health of the animals, but also of the presence of leopards wandering in and around the zoo premises.
The three-year-old mare was found dead in the wee hours of Tuesday. The BBP management says that she died while being chased by aggressive males in the enclosure or in fear of a wild predator.
BBP Executive Director AV Surya Sen said that zebras are very sensitive and it is their natural instinct to run to escape.
Kavya suffered stress, shock and myopathy. She injured herself by crashing into the chain link mesh and succumbed to the shock.
Another official from BBP said there are two males and six female zebras in BBP. A similar death was reported in 2019. It is the tendency of the males to tire the females, by making them run, before mating. All the females in the BBP are pregnant.
“The other major concern is the increasing presence of wild, wandering leopards. The BBP houses rescued, captured and born-in-captivity leopards which are kept in enclosures. Apart from these, there are wild leopards wandering in Bannerghatta National Park and others born and residing in peri-urban areas of Bengaluru.
The sightings of these wild wandering leopards has increased over time and the staff are continuously driving and relocating them. One such wandering leopard could have crossed over the boundary and walked into the zoo area, scaring the herbivore,” the official said, adding that recent studies have also shown the rise in the number of leopards wandering in the outskirts of Bengaluru.
Sen said they are not ruling out any possibility.
Meanwhile, Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology Eshwar B Khandre has directed the officials to investigate the death and submit a report. He also told them to ensure that all safety measures are in place to prevent deaths due to abnormal conditions.