Spotted doe, yearling killed by stray dogs in Sangli zoo

The zoo has been described time and again by wildlife enthusiasts and the Zoo Authority of India as one of the most unsafe places in the country for animals. The latest incident has sent the municipal corporation into a tizzy. Municipal commissioner Ashwini Kumar was said to be out of station and civic officials are calling for different reports on what was indeed a macabre end for the doe and its yearling.

It brought to mind the Pune Raj Bhavan incident some years ago when a pack of hounds sneaked into a black buck enclosure and tore into the hapless victims.

SMKMC officials were not willing to speak about Wednesday’s incident but available information suggests that the dogs entered the Pratapsinh Udyan through a broken mesh fence from the Sangli sub-jail end.

Fresh questions are now being raised about animal safety in the zoo where five lions died recently in conditions which could best be called pathetic. Compounding the problem was the way the zoo was being managed.

City residents are now questioning the municipal corporation’s Rs 35 lakh zoo redesign plan and wildlife experts are insisting that the animals be shifted to a safer place without further delay.

“Redesigning the cages will never resolve the Sangli zoo issue,” honorary wildlife warden in Kolhapur Sunil Karkare told The Indian Express

. In Sangli, animals were victims of bad management and not small cages, Karkare maintained.

Zoo superintendent M P Patil was not available for comment but an officer in-charge of the zoo, S A Kore, said that a detailed report would soon be submitted to the municipal commissioner. The SMKMC city engineer has also sought a separate report on the zoo constructions.

Local forester Shivaji Tabakhe too has reported the incident to his superiors in Kolhapur and is awaiting directions. “Further action will depend upon the directions from the State Government,” he said.

A plan to redesign the zoo was made early this year after there was an uproar over the death of lions one after another.

The then district collector Dr Nitin Karir had been forced to intervene and instruct authorities to provide spacious cages and quality food to the animals. It was through Karir’s intervention that the zoo could get services of a fulltime vet.

This, however, brought little change in the lives of the caged animals. Sangli residents maintain that the new cages are of poor quality. Local Congress MLA Dinkar Patil has charged SMKMC with all the zoo deaths while Shiv Sena MLC Nitin Shinde has demanded that all animals in Pratapsinh Udyan should be released in the wild. He said he was going to take up the issue with Maneka Gandhi.