I’m not one of those who believe that zoos should be banned. I’m pragmatic enough to believe that captive breeding may be the only way to keep some animals around and can provide a gene bank for when some animals are reintroduced to areas where they may have been hunted to extinction or which may have lost their natural habitat.
But, running a zoo is an expensive business and it requires facilities that are in line with the animals natural habitat where possible and practical, and appropriate staff to manage both facilities and animal care and welfare. In Karachi zoo, neither of these factors, facilities or staff, seem to be adequately present.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, animals are looking half starved, have housing that is at least a century behind the times and are suffering from a lack of veterinary care, this has resulted in one case of a rare lion suffering from the most appalling skin infection. It appears that government, both local and national, are loathe to spend any money on the zoo and improve the welfare conditions for the animals.
I suppose that we should not be surprised about an Islamic nation like Pakistan failing to treat these zoo animals properly. After all, if Pakistan treats women and children as some sort of sub human, something that can be seen from the unequal justice that these groups receive, how much worse will this culture’s** treatment of animals will be? Some indication of how backward Pakistan’s animal welfare laws are is achieved by looking at the last time this region of the world, now occupied by Pakistan, last passed an animal welfare law. The answer is 1890, when the British were the colonial power in this area. Pakistan has been in existence since the mid 20th century, you would have thought wouldn’t you, that they would have updated these laws by now, even if just by a little bit, but they have not.
Pakistan is one of the worst shitholes of the planet and is a prime example of how Islam degrades a particular part of the world when it is allowed to have political influence. Now we see that Pakistan isn’t just a hell hole for humans, it’s a hell hole for zoo animals as well.
