Jumbo, the oldest lion at the Lahore Zoo, died last week as both doctors at the zoo who could treat him were sent for a fortnight to Bansra Gali near Murree, reportedly to treat a Siberian tiger named Rocky.
Rocky was previously owned by Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, who had imported it from Canada a few years ago and kept him at his Lahore residence. The tiger was shifted to Bansra Gali Wildlife Park after media reports criticised the confinement of an endangered species animal at a private residence.
Lahore Zoo Director Naeem Ahmad Bhatti told The Express Tribune that Jumbo had fallen sick a week earlier and was shifted to the veterinary hospital at the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) where it was given treatment but it passed away on May 6. According to the zoo records, Jumbo was born at the Lahore Zoo to Leo and Rani in 1998.
The hospital administration said that Jumbo had stopped eating due to illness and was fed through a feeding tube in its final week.
Dr Samuel Shahzad, one of the two Lahore Zoo doctors, told The Express Tribune that Jumbo had been suffering from increased blood urea and liver enlargement, which had caused his death.
Bhatti, the zoo director, said that all possible steps had been taken to save Jumbo’s life.
However, it is manifestly clear that with both the zoo doctors away Jumbo did not get the best medical care that he could. A source at the Lahore Zoo, who requested anonymity because he did not want to jeoperdise his career, told The Express Tribune that both doctors at the Lahore Zoo, Dr Babar Saleem and Dr Samuel Shahzad, and the Zoo director had remained at the Bansra Gali park for two weeks for Rocky’s treatment as Jumbo battled with severe illness in Lahore.
The source said that the Lahore Zoo had no permanent doctors, and all doctors were sent to the zoo on deputation from other departments. “There are many exotic animals at the Lahore Zoo, including some endangered species, and the doctors must be dedicated and permanently employed at the hospital. It is important for the doctors to be abreast of the animals’ medical history, especially those facing life-threatening ailments,” he added.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Saleem, the other Lahore Zoo doctor who is on deputation from the Wildlife Department, said, “Rocky was suffering from kidney disease. It has been treated efficiently. It’s back in full health now.” Dr Saleem returned to hospital on Tuesday the 6th of May, the day Jumbo died. Asked if the lion had died because of his absence, the veterinarian retorted that his fellow doctor had returned to Lahore on Tuesday (May 4), to treat the sick lion. However, Dr Shahzad’s return at that point did not help Jumbo. The source said Dr Samuel, with the zoo on deputation from the Livestock Department, returned to Lahore just two days before the death of Jumbo, who had been sick for the past week and the zoo had no one who was qualified to treat it.
The zoo director confirmed that the doctors had gone to Bansra Gali Wildlife Park to attend to the Siberian tiger but said that Dr Shahzad had returned two days prior to Jumbo’s death to treat it. “Even if the doctors were away, we have an experienced compounder at the zoo, Saleem, who can handle all manners of medical emergency as efficiently as anyone can,” Bhatti said. He said that there were more than 1,000 birds and animals at the zoo and Saleem had taken care of them in the few instances the doctors had been away. The zoo director said, “Jumbo was past the average age for a lion any way; it died of old age,” Bhatti said.
However, international wildlife experts say that the average lifespan for an African lion in the wild is about 14 years but in captivity they can live up to 26 years. With proper care, Jumbo the lion had a decent shot at living for another decade.
Bhatti confirmed that he had visited Bansra Gali for two week and returned on the day Jumbo died. Asked who had directed him and the zoo doctors to proceed to Bansra Gali to treat the Siberian tiger, Bhatti said: “I didn’t go there myself nor ordered the doctors to go. We were all asked by Wildlife Director General Nayyer Iqbal to go there.”
Apart from the zoo doctors, Dr Azhar from the Wildlife Department and Dr Asim and Dr Zia from the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) had also gone to Bansra Gali to treat Rocky the Siberian tiger. Dr Asim told The Express Tribune that 7-year-old Rocky was now healthy and had recovered from kidney ailment.
The Lahore Zoo now has seven lions, but Jumbo was the most popular lion at the zoo, not only because it was the oldest but also because all other lions except one were its progeny. In fact, according to records at the zoo, most of the lions at different wildlife facilities in Punjab were sired by Jumbo.
Azeem, a zoo employee, told The Express Tribune that the animal keepers were saddened by Jumbo’s death. There are plans to stuff and keep it at the zoo museum.
Jumbo’s death was the continuation of a bad spell for crowd pullers from Africa. Recently, a female giraffe, named Twinkle, and a female rhinoceros, Kawo, had died at the zoo.
Shafqat Ali, the headquarters deputy director at the Wildlife Department who issued the orders for the zoo doctors to go to Bansra Gali for Rocky’s treatment, said that no rules barred both doctors from going there together. “In the zoo doctors’ absence a doctor from the Lahore Zoo Safari Park was asked to supervise the Lahore Zoo.” Asked who looked after the safari park’s animals in the doctor’s absence, Ali said that the doctor had managed both zoos simultaneously.
Ali also said that the Siberian tiger was imported by Hamza Shahbaz in 2009 but had been gifted to the wildlife park just 12 days later.
To a question why it was important to send five doctors from different departments in Lahore to treat the Siberian tiger, Ali said: “It’s good for the doctors to know more about an exotic animal which they would not usually get a chance to treat frequently. It’s also helpful for research on endangered species and all doctors should know more about that.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 16th, 2014.