Indian Zoo Inquiry
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THE INDIAN ZOO INQUIRY A Review of Conditions in the Zoos of India Compassionate Crusaders Trust & Zoocheck Canada 2004 (Revised 2006) Compassionate Crusaders Trust 1/13A, Olai Chandi Road Kolkata – 700 037 India 91 33 2532 0000 (ph) [email protected] http://animalcrusaders.org/door.html Zoocheck Canada Inc. 2646 St. Clair Avenue East Toronto, Ontario M4B 3M1, Canada 1 (416) 285-1744 (ph) 1 (416) 285-4670 (fax) [email protected] www.zoocheck.com Supported by World Society for the Protection of Animals 89 Albert Embankment, 14th Floor London, SE1 7TP,United Kingdom 44 (0)20 7587 5000 (ph) 44 (0)20 7793 0208 (fax) [email protected] www.wspa.org.uk TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . 5 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS Compassionate Crusaders Trust . .7 Zoocheck Canada . .8 ZOO LEGISLATION IN INDIA . .9 ANIMAL WELFARE AND ZOO CONDITIONS . .13 INVESTIGATION NOTES & COMMENTARY Allen Forest Zoo . .22 Arignar Anna Zoological Park . .25 Aurangabad Zoo . .32 Bondla Zoo . .36 Bannerghatta Zoo . .39 Calcutta Snake Park . .44 Darjeeling Zoo . .49 Guindy Zoo . .54 Hyderabad Zoo . .58 Katraj Rescue Centre and Rajiv Gandhi Zoo . .62 Madras Crocodile Bank . .65 Madras Snake Park . .69 Mahendra Choudhury Zoological Park . .102 New Delhi Zoological Park . .105 Peshwe Park Zoo . .109 Pimpri Chinchwad Snake Park and Rescue Centre . .112 Prince of Wales Zoo . .113 Ranchi Zoo . .116 Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park . .120 Shimoga Safari and Zoo . .123 Shri Chamarajendra Zoo . .125 Trichur Zoo . .134 Trivandrum Zoo . .137 Van Vihar National Park and Zoo . .140 Veermata Jijabai Udyan Zoo . .142 Vishakhapatnam Zoo . .145 West Bengal Snake Park . .148 CONCLUSIONS . .150 APPENDIX 1 . .152 APPENDIX 2 . .168 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Compassionate Crusaders Trust & Zoocheck Canada would like to thank Shubhobroto Ghosh & Sanjib Sasmal for conducting this study and for their considerable efforts on behalf of captive wild animals in India. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS COMPASSIONATE CRUSADERS TRUST We commend the efforts of Shubhobroto Ghosh, the coordinator of the Indian Zoo Inquiry project, who The Compassionate Crusaders Trust (CCT), formed in joined the Compassionate Crusaders Trust (CCT) as a November 1993, started a signature campaign against volunteer in 1994, while still at school. His innate zoos in 1996, contacting other non-governmental interest in wildlife conservation was fanned by the ide- organizations (NGOs) and collecting a thousand signa- ology of the CCT and their campaign against zoos tures each year to send to the Central Zoo Authority at which started in 1996. Shubhobroto’s interest and Delhi, giving concrete suggestions for improvement. enterprise lead him to read and surf the internet vora- Since these were ignored, CCT campaigned outside ciously, until he found Zoocheck Canada. After con- the zoo, distributing leaflets and pleading with the gen- tacting them and indicating an interest in pursuing a eral public to add their voice against the cruel “Life “zoo project” in India, their response was immediate Imprisonment, with no Court of Appeal”. A protest and encouraging. Although he had his expenses reim- was held on 26th January,1998, which is Republic Day. bursed by Zoocheck Canada, he worked on his own Entry to the zoo is free and 100,000 visitors enter each without a salary. year. The reaction from the zoo authorities was such that police protection was needed for the protesters to CCT would like to suggest that present zoo infrastruc- continue distributing leaflets. tures be modified and equipped with audio-visual cen- ters that will educate the public through films, such as The CCT works in tandem with the People for those seen on Animal Planet and National Geographic, Animals Calcutta (PFAC). Their Chairperson is Mrs. as well as recorded celebrity statements explaining to Maneka Gandhi. In late 1998, a Public Interest the public just why zoos should not be encouraged. Litigation was filed at the Calcutta High Court, under This should help develop a greater sensitivity and the aegis of PFAC, against the way the birds and other awareness about animal welfare in members of the animals were kept at the Calcutta Zoo. Ms.Usha Doshi, public, who we hope will gradually begin to think advocate and animal lover, gave her services free of about and oppose all forms of animal exploitation.We charge. The Petition was accepted and is probably the must not stick only to the zoo issue, but use every first and only such case in the world, in which an NGO opportunity and facility to promote ethical attitudes in has sued a government operated zoo. the widest possible circle at different levels of society all over the world. Subsequent to the appeal, the zoo authorities began to develop open air enclosures and procure companion So this project started a new chapter in the history of animals. For the first time in the history of the hundred the movement against the outdated, cruel concept of plus year old Calcutta Zoo, the shackles of the ele- caged zoos, and with ever-increasing global awareness, phants were removed. CCT hopes that caged zoos will – within the next decade or so – become a thing of the past. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India contacted the CCT founder and Managing Trustee of PFAC for guidance to bring similar relief to the elephants in the Mumbai Zoo. 7 THE INDIAN ZOO INQUIRY ZOOCHECK CANADA Their intent was to visit a representative sample of Indian zoos and to record the conditions they encoun- Over the past two decades, a dramatic increase in our tered through written notes, photographs and video. In understanding of wild animal biology and behavior has total, 26 zoos were visited over a two year period. occurred.This understanding has prompted an intensi- fying concern about the welfare of wildlife held in cap- Ghosh and Sasmal focused their attention on the basic tivity and a gradual shift in thinking about the ethics of aspects of animal housing and care (e.g., enclosure keeping animals captive. The very existence of zoos, shape, size, substrate type, shelter, furnishings, number their role in conservation, education and the preserva- of animals, etc.) that are usually observable by any zoo tion of endangered species through captive breeding is visitor.They also provide commentary on their obser- now being questioned with surprising regularity vations and, in some cases, recommendations for throughout the world. improvement. Almost all zoos, regardless of quality, claim to be edu- The results of this study clearly indicate that many of cating the public and conserving wildlife. But the edu- India’s zoos need substantial improvement and that, in cational efforts of many zoos are nothing more than some cases, individual facilities should be closed and informational cage signboards and most have little or their animals dispersed to more acceptable accommo- no meaningful involvement in legitimate, in-situ con- dation elsewhere. servation initiatives. Attitudes about wildlife and the keeping of wild ani- In actual fact, many of today’s zoos have changed little mals in captivity are changing throughout the world. from their 19th century predecessors. They remain Increasingly, informed people agree that when wild essentially menagerie-style collections of animals con- animals are kept in captivity,their biological and behav- stituted to satisfy public curiosity and a desire to view ioural well-being must be the highest priority. They wild animals up close. Many of them cause considerable also believe that zoos must serve a larger purpose than physical and psychological animal suffering and are in merely displaying animals for public amusement. desperate need of improvement. With these attitudinal changes has come increasing In 2001, a university student named Shubhobroto media coverage of zoo animal problems. There were Ghosh contacted Zoocheck Canada to solicit support many alarming stories in the media in 2005. In January for a review of conditions in India’s zoos. From 1997 2006, media reported on a stampede of blackbuck at until 1999 Ghosh had been filming zoo conditions in the Mumbai Zoo that resulted in the death of 13 animals. northeast India for a UK-based animal welfare organi- zation. His experiences examining zoos convinced him Most of the visits that these reports are based on are that the majority were deficient and required improve- now several years old. However, subsequent visits by ment; that many needed to be closed; and that a more the investigators, as well as by representatives of comprehensive review of basic animal housing and Zoocheck Canada, Compassionate Crusaders Trust and husbandry conditions - an Indian zoo inquiry - was other animal welfare organizations clearly indicate that necessary as a first step on the road.