In a heartwarming incident, a male Cape buffalo which was reportedly under the weather for the last three days passed away in Delhi Zoo.
Cape buffalo is a large African bovine at the National Zoological Park in Delhi and it has been alleged that animal may have died after consuming a plastic bag.
The plastic may have been thrown carelessly by a zoo visitor.
“During post-mortem, a plastic packet was found in its stomach. The plastic might have flown into the (animal) enclosure. Visitors often come with plastic bags in the zoo and discard them,” Hindustan Times quoted a senior official at the zoo, who told on the condition of anonymity, as saying.
Reports also state that enclosures of langur, king cobra, zebra are also empty due to deaths in Delhi zoo. To make things worse, there were several Rhinoceros and Leopards, which have now reduced to just 1 each.
“Further incidence of plastic in the stomach of the Cape Buffalo has raised many questions. Hence, I would request you to kindly take the matter seriously,” a letter which was written by zoo’s veterinary officer Abhijit Bhawal to zoo director Renu Singh read.
The letter penned by Bhawal also adds saying that there is an issue of lack of cleanliness in the zoo. A number of measures that need to be taken inside the zoo and staff quarters to prevent the spread of vector-borne diseases including dengue and malaria.
As per HT, zoo’s curator RA Khan confirmed the demise of the male Cape buffalo, but added that he was totally “clueless” about the cause as the post-mortem report was with the zoo director.
“Delhi is a declared no-plastic zone. But it remains only on paper. Visitors enter the zoo freely with plastic bags and even throw them everywhere inside the premises. There is no check,” the report quoted animal rights activist identified as Gauri Maulekhi, trustee of the People for Animals, a non-governmental organization as saying.
Delhi zoo had 2 Cape buffaloes, one of which passed away due to tuberculosis in February 2017.