BELAGAVI: The death toll of blackbucks at Belagavi’s Rani Channamma Mini Zoo has risen sharply from 8 to 31 within just three days.
With seven more blackbucks battling for life, veterinarians fear the toll may climb further, as a suspected outbreak of haemorrhagic septicaemia (HS) continues to ravage the enclosure.
Veterinarians and wildlife experts say the scale and speed of mortality is unprecedented in any Indian zoo or wildlife facility.
Dr Chandrashekhar, a senior virologist from Bannerghatta Biological Park who rushed to Belagavi after the emergency alert, confirmed that initial postmortem findings point strongly to HS.
“There were extensive haemorrhagic lesions during postmortem. This suggests a bacterial infection. Blackbucks are extremely sensitive and even sudden temperature drop or stress can worsen their condition and speed up mortality,” he said.
Sources say the infection appears to have spread unchecked for days before containment began, a lapse now under scrutiny.
Negligence suspected
Karnataka Zoo Authority Chairman K Rangaswamy, who visited the enclosure on Monday, expressed strong concern over the handling of the
crisis.
“It is disheartening to see so many deaths. There seems to be negligence at multiple levels. The veterinary and forest staff failed to respond decisively when the first deaths occurred,” he said. He added that action will be taken only after final laboratory results confirm the cause of death, but acknowledged that the response mechanism failed to prevent escalation.
Rangaswamy also briefed District In-charge Minister Satish Jarkiholi and said further review meetings will be held with senior forest officials.
Other animals now at risk
With 226 animals housed inside the facility, including tigers, lions, leopards, hyenas, bears, crocodiles and deer species, experts warn that the outbreak could spread if strict emergency protocols aren’t enforced immediately.
Inside the infected enclosure, blackbucks were being fed a diet consisting of groundnut meal, lentils like soaked green gram and horse gram, carrot, and napier grass. Whether feed, water source, vector contamination, enclosure hygiene or staff handling contributed to the outbreak remains under investigation.
Wake-up call for wildlife management in India
Located along NH-48 near Bhutaramanahatti, the Rani Chennamma Zoo is
India’s first zoological facility developed under the MGNREGS scheme and spans 35 hectares. But the incident has now cast a harsh spotlight on preparedness, veterinary oversight, disease surveillance, and emergency response capacity.
Wildlife experts say if urgent measures are not implemented now, the remaining blackbucks, and potentially other species, are at serious risk.
Conservationists say the death of 31 blackbucks — a Schedule-I protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act — is not just a zoo management failure but a conservation setback.
“This scale of mortality is unprecedented. It should serve as a wake-up call. These animals can vanish from the facility within days if immediate,
aggressive containment measures are not taken,” an expert monitoring
the situation said. The samples have been sent to laboratories for confirmatory testing.
Meanwhile, containment zones, quarantine protocols, vaccination drives, enclosure disinfection and postmortem surveillance are being intensified. But for the rare antelopes that survived, time is running out.
Animals in zoo
Total animals in zoo 226
Blackbucks before outbreak 38
Blackbucks dead 31
Critically ill blackbucks 7
Confirmed cause Suspected HS (awaiting lab confirmation)