Activists against inclusion of penguins, zebra in Mumbai zoo

An animal rights group Tuesday objected to the inclusion of exotic animals in a Mumbai zoo, citing its bad conditions.

In a letter to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) said that exhibiting exotic animals at the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan Zoo in Byculla in Mumbai is not a good move since the zoo is infamous for its apathy towards the animals.

Earlier this month, Mumbai's civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had announced its plans to revamp the zoo after it received a nod from the CZA.

After the revamp, the zoo is planning to exhibit 18 Indian animals like hyenas, jackals, wolves, sloth bears, wild dogs, porcupines, mouse deer, sambars, common otters, Asiatic lions, Bengal tigers, leopards, jungle cats, and five exotic species like emu, hippopotamus, jaguar, zebra and Humboldt penguins.

The FIAPO letter said that the zoo is infamous for being among the country's worst maintained zoos and that none of the species currently housed in the zoo receives adequate care nor are the animals kept in enclosures designed on a species requirement basis.

FIAPO also pointed out that acquiring or exhibiting exotic animals is not totally in line with the National Zoo Policy.

"Unfortunately, in the past decade we have seen that zoos are acquiring and breeding more exotic animals rather than endangered animals," a FIAPO spokesperson said.

"The National Zoo Policy states that the zoos shall give priority to endangered species in their collection and breeding plans. The order of preference for selection of species shall be (in descending order) locality, region, country and other areas. Breeding and upkeep of exotic animals undermines the very purpose of zoos," the spokesperson added.

FIAPO said that while the zoo management's decision to revamp the zoo is commendable and long overdue, it urged the CZA to reevaluate its approval in allowing the zoo to introduce exotic species such as Humboldt penguins from Chile, zebras from Africa and emus from Australia.