According to a park official, her sister Sonia tragically died on Sunday in Karachi’s Safari Park, more than a year after the death of zoo elephant Noor Jehan.
Sonia and three other female elephants were taken from the wild in Tanzania when they were quite young, and they were taken to Karachi in 2009 before being moved to the zoo and Safari Park.
Since the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) appeared to have lacked the motivation and know-how to give them a habitat suitable for their species, their welfare had been a major source of concern for a considerable amount of time.
A Dawn report from earlier this year stated that the elephant had a severe infection and that there was swelling between her hind legs.
She was discovered to have a foot injury last year, which appeared to have been brought on by the concrete floor being destroyed and the enclosure’s ongoing moisture problems.
The 17- to 19-year-old African elephant was reunited with her sister Madhubala last month after the latter was released from solitary confinement after a year at the Karachi Zoo and transferred to the Safari Park.
In an interview with Geo News, Safari Park Director Syed Amjad Hussain Zaidi stated that their crew arrived at the park after learning of Sonia’s passing around 6:30 a.m.
He stated that the elephant’s body had been secured and that “we cannot decide on the cause of death for now as it will only be known after the postmortem is done.”
In a signed statement on Sonia’s passing, non-governmental representatives of Sindh’s Task Force on Captive Animals said that although the task force was aware of Sonia’s health, it had not given her the care she needed.
The message said, “The Task Force members have been aware of the issues surrounding Sonia since August 6, 2024, although this news may come as a shock to some.”
“The minutes of our July 5 Task Force meeting were not recorded, and no additional meeting was called to discuss Sonia’s severe illness, despite our persistent requests.
The statement read, “As a task force on captive animals, we feel that we have failed in our primary duty and share the responsibility for this heartbreaking loss.”
In order to “review our shortcomings and to evaluate the effectiveness of having such a Task Force in place,” the signatories urged the Task Force to call an urgent meeting.
Separately, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab told Dawn.com that an investigation was mandated to find out the truth of the elephant’s demise.
The mayor stated that the Four Paws team was treating the elephant “apparently for a tumor.”
He did, however, state that he would wait for the factual findings before answering.
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