After years of captivity on the Karachi Zoo, 24-year-old feminine brown bear Rano was flown to Islamabad on Wednesday, the place she was moved to a sanctuary for a second likelihood at life.
In keeping with Sindh Wildlife Conservator Javed Ahmed Mahar, Rano was transported to the capital on a Pakistan Air Drive C-130 plane, which took off at 8:30am and landed on the Nur Khan Airbase a bit of after 11:30am.
From the Karachi Zoo, the bear was first taken to Faisal Base in a picket brown crate on a cargo pickup truck, which Islamabad Wildlife Administration Board (IWMB) officers stated she entered willingly and with out having to be sedated.
“At simply three calls, she walked from the sleeping space in her enclosure and into the crate,” stated Sana Raja of the IWMB in a video. She added that Rano didn’t present any indicators of misery and was additionally consuming nicely.
In the meantime, Mahar stated that the group repeatedly monitored the bear on the flight, whereas Rano, regardless of the roar of the C-130 engine, caught up on misplaced sleep. “The technical workers on the Nur Khan Airbase helped with offloading Rano,” he added.
She was then taken to the IWMB bear rehabilitation facility, the place she was given meals and moved right into a quarantine space. “Her keep right here may last as long as a month for examination and different protocols, after which she can be taken to a bigger space,” stated Anees, an official of the wildlife board, in a video shared by Mahar.
Within the clip, a curious Rano may very well be seen sniffing her new, inexperienced residence. Her in any other case heaving and panting physique appeared calm and at peace.
For years, Rano had languished on the Karachi Zoo, first inside a Victorian-era pit after which in a barren cage, a cell the place she paced restlessly day and night time on worn-out, onerous flooring. Her state of affairs had prompted animal rights activists to method the Sindh Excessive Courtroom (SHC) searching for her relocation to the sanctuary in Islamabad.
Earlier this month, the SHC had ordered the bear’s relocation to the bear sanctuary. The court docket had additionally shaped a committee to make sure her secure relocation, which included members of the IWMB, who had beforehand visited Karachi to coach Rano.
Ray of hope
Mahera Omar, co-founder of the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society, stated that zoos had been unable to fulfill the complicated psychological and behavioral wants of untamed animals, nor may they replicate the ecosystems which can be their rightful residence.
“Zoos should be phased out and the animals rehabilitated in applicable species-specific sanctuaries,” Omar stated.
“Animals should not meant for our leisure,” stated Omar. “They need to reside freely in their very own habitats throughout protected nationwide parks.”
She added that Rano’s rescue gives a ray of hope for the numerous different harmless animals silently struggling in captivity throughout Pakistan.
Lawyer and activist Jibran Nasir, who fought Rano’s case within the SHC, known as her relocation a win for all animal rights activists and journalists who coated the bear’s struggling and raised their voices over time. He additionally thanked the court docket for bringing Rano’s struggling to an finish.
“Rano’s case shouldn’t be an remoted one. Many animals have perished and proceed to endure at Karachi Zoo as a consequence of its insufficient amenities, apathetic and ill-trained workers,” he confused. “Karachi Zoo was initially a botanical backyard, and that’s the function it ought to serve versus being a residing hell for animals.”
“For the Karachi Metropolitan Company, the zoo is just a money cow, and so they justify its existence as an affordable supply of leisure for Karachiites. We have to educate our youngsters about animals, not scale back them and their distress and struggling as a supply of leisure,” he added.
Years of neglect
In March 2017, the bear was transferred from a breeding farm and research center to the Karachi Zoological Gardens under an animal exchange program. Not having owned bears for 16 years, Rano was confined inside a Victorian-era pit that last housed Emma, a Balochistan black bear said to have gone mad in captivity.
Housed with Rano was an Asiatic black bear that died in 2020, leaving Rano in solitary confinement. That year, Rano’s suffering came to the fore after a video of her panting and leaning against the wall of the cement pit went viral on social media.
Subsequently, a petition was filed in the Sindh High Court seeking Rano’s transfer to a sanctuary. In response, however, the zoo officials shifted her to another cage, not any better than the previous one. Over the years, her condition worsened, reaching the point of psychosis.
Earlier this year, activists rallied for Rano’s freedom once again after the bear underwent treatment for a head injury — an old wound that seemed to have been infested by maggots due to lack of care.
Animal rights activist Jude Allen Pereira petitioned the SHC, through his counsel Nasir, stating that the bear was deprived of species-specific environmental enrichment, suitable climatic conditions and necessary medical care.
When a two-judge bench comprising Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Syed Fiaz-ul-Hassan Shah took up the matter on Oct 14, the court ordered the brown bear to be shifted from the Karachi zoo to the IWMB bear sanctuary within 48 hours.
