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ZOO/WILD's 2012 Activities . . .
Founder/Managing
Trustee of ZOO, Sally Walker made
two side trips during her
tri-annual visit to India, one to
Bangladesh and from Bangladesh to
Nepal.
Bangladesh:
In Bangladesh she discussed current
activities of the Ministry and Zoo with
senior officials and officers regarding
the renovation of the zoo. As usual, the
need for continuity of all levels of
staff members and long term, serious zoo
management training at all levels was
stressed. She also conducted a short but
serious inspection of the zoo premises
over two days, using the WAZA Zoo
Assessment Tool Model and comparing
current Dhaka Zoo with years past. This
exercise was to establish whether
sufficient improvement had been made to
justify the order of over 250 exotic
animals from South Africa and other
countries. Unfortunately the Dhaka Zoo
condition had not improved in any
serious way. Sally ‘s overall opinion
can be referred in June issue of ZOOS’
PRINT (see below to download).
 The
Dhaka Zoo has a lot of work to do to
make the zoo fit for our precious wild
animals. This leopard spent his time
lying in the middle of his cage, which
was open on all sides, to get as far
from the jeering public as possible.
He seemed to have nothing left of life
except total despair. Photo by Sally
Walker.
She
encouraged the Dhaka Zoo people to start
a Bangladesh Zoo Association involving
all the zoos in the country with an aim
of them helping one another. Mr. Abdur
Razzaque, former D.G., Animal Husbandry
Department, will help organise this. Zoo
and Ministry officials informed her that
the Bangladesh Zoo Act would be passed
soon. A report of Sally’s visit and the
Dhaka Zoo Crisis can be found in ZOOS’
PRINT, June 2012 (see below to
download).
Nepal: In Nepal Sally
Walker attended the first meeting of the
Nepal Zoo Network, a brainchild of the
Director of NTNC/Central Zoo, Sarita
Jnawali. The meeting went very well with
all attendees on board with the new idea
of a national network and meeting often
to discuss and hopefully solve some of
the problems.
D.G.
Wildlife along with Director, Central
Zoo ran the first meeting of the Nepal
Zoo Network. Zoo owners and directors
from all over Nepal attended.
Photo by Rachana Shah, Central Zoo.
Sarita Jnawali showed Sally around the
entire Central Zoo. For the last year
and a half, NTNC/ Central Zoo have been
making dramatic renovations to the small
zoo, and it is still ongoing. Already it
could be seen that animals were more
comfortable, safe and at the same time
more easily seen by visitors in more
naturalistic enclosures. Important
landscaping has been done and also still
in process, making the zoo more
attractive and spacious while adding to
animals and visitors comfort. The
NTNC/Central Zoo runs an outstanding
education programme supported largely by
memberships in their Friends of the Zoo
of which there are over 100,000 members.
Central Zoo is now on the right track in
all aspects, e.g., conservation, animal
welfare, training of staff, veterinary
care, nutrition, signage, education
programmes; you name it ... they got it.
See details of Central Zoo's work in
June 2012, ZOOS' PRINT (see below to
download).
Sally, now in USA, will attend a
meeting of Association Chairs and WAZA
Council mid-August before returning to
India in September and from there going
to Melbourne to attend CBSG and WAZA.
Report
published in ZOO’S PRINT
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