No escape from jungle law

THE SPRAWLING Vandalur zoo is as dynamic as any natural environment. In many ways, the law of the jungle prevails. Some animals always live in constant fear of threat from another group of vicious beasts - referred to as free ranging predators, inside the zoo premises.

The zoo, named Arignar Anna Zoological Park (AAZP), has `free ranging predators' such as jackals, mongooses, porcupines, eagles, hawks, snakes and monitor lizards.

Carnivores like jackals pose a threat to the life of free ranging deer species, reptiles such as mongooses and monitor lizards break eggs laid by birds. Birds are also attacked by eagles, hawks and koels.

The free ranging animals not only attack free ranging prey, but also birds inside the enclosures. More than 15 birds including the exotic Rose Ringed, Malabar and Alexandrian Parakeets have died due to predator bite during the past year.

Advancing age, design faults of enclosures, epidemics, infighting and debility are some of the other reasons due to which the animals die in the zoo, says Mr. N. Krishnakumar, the zoological park director.

Controlling these predators is not an easy task as they move around the largely-open zoo premises freely. Similarly, the moment hawks, eagles or koels, spot a bird close to the chainlink, they attack in a flash, injuring the birds. Every month at least one bird is killed by the predator attack, he says.

A couple of lions and an equal number of brow-antlered deer, four jackals and a Indian Star tortoise have died in the zoo in sibling-rivalry during the past year. For males, fight is mainly due to establish supremacy and attract females, says Mr. B. Venkatraman, Deputy Director of the Park.

While the veterinarians in the zoo attend to the physical ailments of all the animals as soon as possible, some still die due to age or due to serious injuries.

Some animals fall sick due to porcupine-induced illness - known disease-spreaders in the zoo kingdom. The zoo has now acquired a semi-automatic analyser to test animal samples such as urine, faeces and blood to determine diseases afflicting them correctly. Earlier, the zoo had to depend on the Madhavaram and TANUVAS facilities to conduct these tests, leading to considerable delays in initiating proper treatment. The new gadget comes as a boon and offers much hope.

By P. Oppili

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Section  : Features
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