14 Deer Dead in One Night at Kanpur Zoo
Seven employees of India’s Kanpur Zoo have been suspended over the mysterious sudden deaths of 14 deer.
A disturbing discovery on Saturday morning at the Kanpur Zoo revealed that thirteen chital (Axis axis) and one swamp deer (Cervus duvauceli) had died overnight.
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According to the Times of India, the deers’ keepers reported the animals were healthy on Friday. Nevertheless, the Kanpur zoo’s director has been issued a show-cause notice - and seven zoo employees have now been suspended.
Precautionary measures in place
It is not known if the animals’ food played a role in their deaths. The zoo reported that 259 of the zoo’s herbivores, including rhino, were given the same feed that night. All of them were still healthy - but were placed under constant watch for 48 hours.
In addition, the stored feed has been removed, the enclosures have been sanitized, and the animals are being given antibiotics as a precaution.
Eleven of the deer were from one enclosure; the other three from separate enclosures.
Coincidentally, five black bucks died last at Kanpur Zoo last year within one hour around this same time of year, which happens to be monsoon season.
A zoo source said that certain poisonous weeds with a high nitrate content grow during monsoon season. And while it is not known if this year’s deer tragedy was a result of consuming some of these poisonous weeds, there is speculation about the similar timing of the incident.
Forensic testing
Chief wildlife warden BK Patnaik told TOI that viscera samples and stomach contents of the deer have been sent to IVRI Bareilly to determine why the animals died.
In order to rule out foul play, he added that the samples will be tested by the police department’s forensic laboratory.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/saumil/ / CC BY-ND 2.0
From the author:
PETA India held a demonstration in front of the Central Zoo Authority calling for the closure of all zoos, citing this incident as the latest in the rising death toll of animals in India’s zoos.
The article is here: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/enviornment/rising-deaths-of-captive-animals-peta-wants-zoos-closed_100248256.html
PETA needs to stay out of this! Of course this is truly sad, but the zoo should be left alone of figure out what happened. While this is not an American zoo (and this should not reflect on American zoos), I’ve heard that Indian zoo officials are very committed to their animals.
Allen Nyhuis, Coauthor: America’s Best Zoos