Anyone who read our reports on the Georgetown Zoo should have been disturbed by their content. Of course in a country where some human beings are in obvious need and are not accorded the respect they deserve, it is hard to arouse people’s interest in the treatment of animals. But leaving the issue of our responsibility to the animal kingdom aside for the moment, just what is the point of having a zoo which is so run down, and where the animals are so obviously unsuitably housed that any visitor is immediately turned off? What purpose does such a facility serve? Not an educational one, surely, and not a tourism one either. If this is really the best our nascent tourist industry can do, then Minister Prashad might as well pack it in now and go home.
The lioness seen by our reporter was stretched out in a concrete cage of restricted dimensions, and this is an animal accustomed to ranging across the African savannahs in search of prey. Nowadays the generally accepted practice in the West is to keep these large carnivores in open range zoos or safari parks, which even if they don’t replicate their precise habitats, give them more space to roam. If schoolchildren want to learn about lions, how much better it would be if they saw video of them in the wild, rather than the sad specimen in the Gardens in her concrete jail.
And then there is the cute lonely otter, described by our reporter as being happy for human attention. But wouldn’t any self-respecting tourist not rather see Diane McTurk’s otters at play on her ranch in the Rupununi, than a single caged otter obviously in need of company in a run-down zoo in Georgetown?
The case of the harpy eagles is well known, and it is not a story which does the authorities any credit. The harpy eagle is a huge bird with an enormous wing-span, but the first two the visitor encounters when he or she enters the zoo are accommodated in a cage so small that there is no room for them to fly. Six years ago the zoo was given US$30,000 by the mayoralty of Odense in Denmark to construct a modern aviary for these birds, but nothing was done because ostensibly the technical expertise which was needed for the construction was not available. All one can say is that the lameness of this excuse is so astonishing that it leaves one breathless. The money, this newspaper was given to understand, is still there, but that does not mean that the lack of action is still not a scandal.
Our report described another bird cage where there was a stagnant, almost foetid pool – and this appeared to be the only water source for the birds held captive there.
Needless to say the animals are not under regular veterinary care, and it is only when the keepers notice that they are sick that something is done, by which time it is probably too late. As for the feeding regimen, our report says that the carnivores are fed roadkill if it looks alright; if there is no roadkill, then they don’t eat.
The one bright spark in this dismal story is the keepers. Working every day for $9,000 a week and $100 a day risk allowance, with no insurance, no proper safety equipment, little or no training, no changing room, no lunch room, no medical check-ups and not even a proper first aid kit, they stay because they want to help the animals. The one to whom our reporter spoke and those whom she saw, clearly had developed a relationship with their charges. There are, of course, not enough keepers for the work which has to be done, and if any one of them is sick, then a colleague has to take on the absentee’s duties as well as his or her own.
Security at the zoo is also an issue. This newspaper was given to understand that security guards are not equipped to deal with animals in an emergency, and in fact when the reporter was there she only saw a single guard on the 8am-4pm shift; he was stationed at the gate collecting entrance tickets.
We also reported on a management report for the zoo dating back almost a decade, in which a number of health and safety measures had been recommended for implementation. These included such things as life and accident insurance policies and proper protective clothing for the staff. It also listed more than thirty repairs which needed to be done on cages. Where the former is concerned, as is clear from what has been said above, nothing has been done, and the report itself, no doubt, lies with countless others from various departments gathering dust on some forgotten shelf.
A former senior member of staff explained to the newspaper that the current state of the zoo was the consequence of poor decisions on the part of the National Parks Commission (NPC) which is charged with its management, and inadequate funds. We were told that it receives $30M from the NPC and generates $18M itself, of which 80% goes in wages. The ex-staff member also said that more than $70M would be required to run the zoo adequately.
So here we have a zoo which apparently the government cannot afford to maintain. As a consequence, the animals are suffering, the facilities have become run down, the staff are underpaid and also at risk, the security of visitors cannot be guaranteed, no educational purpose is served and tourists will most likely be repelled when they come. All in all there seems little argument for keeping the facility open. If the administration really does insist on a zoo (particularly if it is to include big cats), then it has not just to plough the necessary funding into it, but also to relocate it to an area outside the city where some safari-type park could be created.
It hardly needs to be said that the current government is unlikely to go this route. It should therefore look at closing the zoological park, and rehousing the animals in zoos and parks in other countries which have the requisite accommodation and are prepared to take them. At the very least they should return the aviary money to Odense.
While the NPC has immediate responsibility for the zoo, it ultimately falls under the umbrella of the Office of the President. While the two establishments are located not far from each other, it is unlikely that the staffers in the OP have ever given the zoo much thought. It is about time they did.
