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Living condition of tigers in zoos distressing: SC

Keeping in mind the report of the expert committee probing the death of white tigers in the prestigious Nandankanan Zoo in Orissa, the Supreme Court on Monday termed the situation as 'distressing' and said the condition in zoos were far from satisfactory.

"The situation is distressing and the steps taken for the welfare of animals in the zoos are far from satisfactory," a bench comprising Chief Justice A S Anand, Justice Santosh Hegde and Justice K G Balakrishnan said.

The bench said, "The Centre as well as the state governments need to have inclination and determination to do something (to prevent recurrence of tragedies like at Nandankanan) but, ironically, both seemed to be lacking these qualities."

These observations were made during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation filed by an animal activist, Navin M Raheja, bringing to the court's notice the large scale poaching in reserve forests, thus depleting the tiger population in the wild.

The bench asked Solicitor General Harish Salve to consider the suggestions made by Raheja and submit to the court within two weeks details of steps to be taken by the Centre and state governments for the protection of tigers in captivity as well as in reserve forests.

The court drew Salve's attention to the report of the expert committee constituted to go into the deaths of white tigers in the Nandankanan Zoo and pointed out the 'shocking' way in which the sick tigers were handled by the zoo authorities.

The bench said, "A cursory look at the report shows that much needs to be done for the welfare of tigers in captivity (in zoos) and reserve forests." It directed listing of the case after two weeks.

When Raheja pointed out the faults in the enforcement of the Wildlife Protection Act was resulting in loss of at least one tiger per day in the wild, Justice Anand asked the Solicitor General, "Is the Centre powerless to implement its own Act?"

Referring to various lapses pointed out by the expert committee, the Solicitor General said though the Centre had formulated a model guideline for management of zoos, nobody seemed to be following it.

He said any step taken by the Centre with regard to Project Tiger reserve forests was seen by state governments as an encroachment in their territory and added that the issue needed careful handling. He suggested creation of a nodal agency, which could inspect zoos, Project Tiger sanctuaries and suggest steps needed to be taken for better handling of the animals.

Referring to the report on Nandankanan Zoo, Salve said after a few of the tigers were found to have 'sleeping sickness', the zoo authorities panicked and herded the afflicted tigers into one enclosure.

"This knee-jerk reaction resulted in more deaths as post-mortem reports showed that many tigers had enlarged hearts indicating they died of shock," he said.

EARLIER REPORTS
Cover-up bid at Nandankanan zoo suspected
Experts still puzzled about tiger deaths

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