Another giraffe dies

This recent photo shows one of the five giraffes the Dhaka Zoo had. Now the zoo only has three. Photo: Shafiqul Alam

A male giraffe at Dhaka Zoo died yesterday morning following the death of a female of the same species on September 8, revealing poor health management at the zoo.
The number of animal deaths in a month now stands at four including a tiger, a lion and two giraffes, while 22 animals died so far in one year.
The government has formed a probe committee in this regard.
An official from the Dhaka Zoo suspects it could be "sabotage" as the giraffe was recovering from illness and looked quiet good yesterday morning even half an hour before its death.
"Two giraffes have been ill since September 21 but the dead one showed all signs of recovery this morning and then suddenly collapsed at 10:40am," says a zoo staff.
"It was chewing the cud in the morning what is a sign of good health of animals living on grass," he adds.
The dead animal was among five of the giraffes brought from South Africa in June last year. Now three giraffes are left and one of them is sick.
"Of the two sick giraffes, the one improving died yesterday. So I cannot say the fate of other one," says the zoo officer.
A male lion died within three days of the death of the young female giraffe earlier last month.
The curator and deputy curator of the zoo were sacked following the death of the giraffe and a probe committee was formed. But the report the probe committee submitted was never made public.
Earlier, a sambar deer died in the first week of May. In March, a baboon, a wildebeest and the last member of Malayan tapir died. One Royal Bengal Tiger, two freshwater crocodiles, one zebra and a lesser adjutant stork died in February.
The zoo is located on about 186 acres of land in Mirpur housing more than 2,000 animals of 157 species.
Of them, 57 species are mammals including elephant, Royal Bengal Tiger, lion, cheetah, rhinoceros, zebra, monkey, chimpanzee, and hippo. There are 61 species of birds, 11 species of reptiles including snakes and crocodiles and 28 species of fish.
Around 10,000 people visit this poorly managed zoo every day.