Abdus Samad, one of the fifteen zookeepers taking care of carnivores, is interacting with a caged tiger. These caretakers often have to go too close to the wild beasts to give food and other services.Photo: STAR

"I was saying prayers at noon in the zoo mosque. All of a sudden I heard visitors screaming -- the tiger is on the loose! Run for your life!”
“The angry tiger was chasing the food supplier Mujibar Rahman. The visitors were running frantically for safety. Alarm bell was ringing. It was a horrific scene."
This is how Mohammad Abdus Samad, one of the animal caretakers at the Dhaka Zoo, was describing an incident of animal attack at the zoo that took place in February last.
Samad, a tiger cage attendant for 15 years, instantly left the prayer mattress and saw the frightening scene. Mujibar jumped across a fence of the tapir section and the tiger followed. Samad and other employees of the zoo tried to distract the tiger.
Tranquilliser arrived in a few minutes. By this time the wild beast sank his teeth and claw into Mujibar. He sustained serious injuries in his left arm.
“This is how close we get to the wild beasts every day. Serious incidents like this one does not happen every day, but no one knows when the slightest mistake will lead to such an attack and all this is part of our life," Samad added.
"Wild animals are extremely sensitive and unpredictable. Captivity all the time and the annoyance caused by the visitors affect their temper," he said.
Samad in his 31-year job at the zoo have seen many incidents of animal attack on zoo employees. He himself escaped many fatalities.
While on duty the zookeepers come in close contact with wild animals every day, risking their life. Although the zoo officials are more alert than ever these days, incidents of minor injuries take place every week that does not usually make the headlines.
Since the year 2000 at least 10 major incidents of animal attack took place at Dhaka Zoo. More such incidents occurred at zoos outside Dhaka. Zoo employees said around 50 minor incidents take place every year including bites and scratches.
There are no provisions for risk allowance for the workers taking care of wild animals at the zoos. There are no compensations either if incidents like this take place, complained the zookeepers. Most of the victims have to bear the cost of their own treatment.
Only financial help the employees receive is from the thoughtful colleagues who contributed part of their monthly salary on every occasion.
Employees mentioned that zookeepers in rest of the world including the neighbouring countries like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are enjoying risk allowance while authorities in Bangladesh paid no heed to their repeated plea.
“My family depends solely on me. If anything happens to me, then who will take care of them? We can't save from our current salary, which is very minimal,” said Md Enamul Haque who was attacked by a cheetah in 1995 at the age of 18.
He has 7 deep scratch marks in his body. His chin and left side of the forehead bears the deep marks of the cheetah's sharp teeth.
Since the establishment of Dhaka Zoo in 1974 many animal caretakers were disabled by attacks while some were forced to leave their jobs. Many families were ruined without any monetary support from the government.
Without the only breadwinner, the family of Ismail who was killed in a bear attack in 2002 were forced into hardship. Employees kept the Zoo locked for three days demanding rehabilitation of his family. Later, his son was employed to his post but no compensation was offered.
Zoo staff Abul Kalam after breaking his patella also in a bear attack in 2001 became unable to do heavy work or climb stairs. He is now working as a guard at the zoo.
Professional snake charmer Habibullah Khan bitten by a venomous snake in 2005 said, "Being a snake charmer I am not afraid of them. Snakes are normally shy but Cobra often tries to attack. I have avoided many blows. But no one knows when an attack will come.”
Snake charmers have to go very near to the snakes during their working hours.
When the tiger and lion sheds are cleaned the animals are kept in a different room, which remains locked until the caretaker is out of the cage. However, in case of snakes and crocodiles the slithery beasts remain in their cage.
Working with the animals like tiger, lion, snake, crocodile and bears involve serious risk. Elephants and hyenas, even the beautiful spotted deer can be a threat. The highest number of attack, however, involves human friendly monkeys, zoo employees said.
The Dhaka Zoo has 15 animal caretakers who work with tigers and lions. Besides, there are five who take care of crocodiles, two work with snakes and three with elephants. The total number of animal caretaker is 57.
Shed attendants and animal caretakers enter the cages for cleaning and feeding the animals. In case of illness of any animal, they have to come even closer to it.
The veterinary surgeon of the zoo and his two assistants regularly come in close contact with the sick animals facing the possibility of zoonotic diseases.
Animals are carrier of many diseases that can be transmitted to humans through contact with the animals (pets, farm animals, wildlife).
Most animal caretakers and zookeepers working at the zoo do not have required education. Qualification for the job is HSC, but there are some who read up to class VIII.
There is no official training programme for them. They learn on the job often making mistakes that can cost their lives. The workers continue working in fear of the beasts as they are not educated about animal behaviour. Many staff are employed on short contract who do not know how to deal with sensitive wild animals.
In addition to all this, the zoo is facing shortage of manpower for long. Around 40 posts of animal caretakers are lying vacant, putting immense pressure on the other staff. Employees do not often get weekly holidays because of the huge workload.
The zoo has a total of 212 designated positions. Although the posts are not sufficient to run the facility efficiently, 47 of those remain vacant.
Currently the zoo has about 165 species of animals. There are 58 mammals including elephant, Royal Bengal Tiger, cheetah, rhinoceros, zebras, different species of monkeys and chimpanzees, hippos and many more. There are 66 species of birds, 13 species of reptiles including snakes and crocodiles and 28 species of fish.
The entire fleet consists of around 1,823 animals, which attracts around 10,000 visitors every day.

10 major incidents of attacks

Dhaka Zoo witnessed at least 10 major incidents of animal attacks since the year 2000.

• In February 2007, food supplier Mujibor Rahman was attacked while feeding a Royal Bengal Tiger.
• In December 2007, crocodile attendant Barek Mollah broke his kneecap slipping inside the water tub as the crocodile suddenly made a fierce move.
• In 2005, snake charmer Habibullah Khan was bitten by a venomous snake.
• In 2003, animal caretaker Badal Das was injured in an attack by a monkey.
• In 2002, bear cage attendant Ismail was killed by a bear.
• In 2001, Abul Kalam, another zoo staff, broke his patella in a bear attack.
• In the same year, tiger cage attendant Shah Alam sustained injuries in his leg as the tiger attacked him while cleaning the cage.
• In another incident in 2001, zookeeper Sattar was injured by a monkey.
• The then zoo curator Dr Md Sirajul Islam was also injured in the incident.
• In 1999, caretaker Motaleb suffered knee fracture when a tiger attacked him.

Allowance Proposal Gathering Dust

The animal caretakers of the Dhaka and other zoos of the country are deprived of risk allowance as the proposal for the allowance is gathering dust in the ministries concerned for more than three years, sources at the Dhaka Zoo said.
The zoo officials have been demanding the allowance for a long time for the employees, especially the animal caretakers and veterinary surgeon who often come in close contact with the wild animals risking their lives.
The Dhaka Zoo authorities in 2004 sent a proposal to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock seeking a 10 percent risk allowance for the caretakers and other permanent employees.
Sources said the Ministry of Finance has not yet approved the proposal.
Yearly budget of Dhaka Zoo is Tk 3.75 crore out of which Tk 2.50 crore is spent to feed the animals. Very little is left for other purposes.
The zoo gets Tk 1 lakh as yearly allocation for the treatment of the inmates. But the zoo employees injured by any animal do not receive any monetary help for treatment.