Dhenkanal: Safeguarding the health of wild animals in the unhygienic condition prevailing in Kapilas zoo here has posed serious challenge to forest officials even as an ailing female elephant calf died during treatment on the zoo premises Monday.
The eight-month-old calf, Nandini, was ailing for the last three days due to the ongoing severe cold wave, Kapilas forest ranger Darshania Bhoi said. The animal was undergoing treatment at the zoo situated at the foothills of famous tourist site Kapilas.
Veterinarians conducted a post-mortem of the carcass to ascertain if the calf was suffering from any infectious disease before burying it on the zoo premises, assistant conservator of forest (ACF) Jeetendra Das said.
Three elephants – Uma, Kartik and Chandu – were living in the zoo and were enthralling visitors.
The calf was rescued from a jungle near Nandinia under Hindol forest range eight months back and brought to the zoo and housed in the elephant rescue centre on its premises.
The animal, however, failed to respond to treatment and died at 4 pm Monday. It is alleged that negligence in treatment led to the death of the calf.
The forest officials despite being aware of its illness for the last three days did not call expert veterinarians from Nandankanan Zoological Park in the capital and pressed a local veterinarian for the job. Its health condition, instead of improving, deteriorated but the zoo officials never cared to seek the help of experts, it was learnt.
Wildlife activists and animal lovers have demanded a thorough probe into the lapses on the part of the forest officials and the zoo authorities in this case.
A month back, two owls of a rare breed and a young crocodile had died of similar reasons.
It seems that Kapilas forest range which is in charge of the zoo and its officials have not learnt any lessons from the past deaths of animals and chose to stay mum on the issue. PNN
