Zoo tiger in the wild!

I have been a member of the of the IUCN -- World Conservation Union's Cat Specialist Group -- for over two decades and have been working with zoos for just over 18 years, managing a range of animal collections from Toads to Tigers. I have, in the present zoo, both Bengal and Siberian Tiger subspecies.

Never in my life have I ever heard of releasing a zoo tiger to a nature reserve or natural forest like the Sundarbans.

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No zoo in the world dreams of releasing their tigers, or any other big cat species (Lion, Jaguar, Leopard and Snow Leopard) back into nature. Neither IUCN, nor any other world conservation organisations, like the WWF -- worldwide fund for nature --, GTF -- global tiger forum --, nor the CBSG -- captive breeding specialist group of the IUCN --, ever prescribed any country or its zoos to release its captive bred animals back to nature.

One may ask why a big cat cannot be released in nature. The layman's answer is very simple. This zoo or captive bred animals see only human beings and a few zoo animals from the time of birth. They do not see any natural surrounding and the elements of biodiversity that form the basis of any wildlife sanctuary or a reserved forest, such the Sundarbans.

So, when you release a Dhaka Zoo tiger, say in Kochikhali or Katka wildlife sanctuary in the Sundarbans, this action, I assure you, will have a number of reactions on the part of the animal. First reaction will be of immense shock beyond imagination. It would be as if a French, who knew no other language but his own, were to suddenly find himself/herself in Bangladesh, a strange and unknown land where no one understands him/her and he/she does not understand any one. The moment a tiger is released from its protected, constantly cared for cage into any forest in the country, it will be stunned for the first few moments. Then it will look for a shelter, a built area such as those it had seen during its total confined life. In the forest it will not find a single place to hide itself. A captive tiger that, all through its life, ate only slaughtered beef or buffalo meat will never know how to kill a wild animal for food. So it will not know that the beautiful Chital, barking deer, wild boar/pig, monkeys, junglefowl roaming around it are all part of its diet. It will make no attempt to catch such free roaming animals because a captive-bred tiger would never know the technique of hunting that a wild tiger would learn from its mother during the first two years of its life in the jungle. While playing with the siblings and mother tigers, juvenile tiger cubs in the wild learn the skill of nabbing a live prey. That instinct is lost in captive-bred animal.

It will never be able to find out the difference between saline and fresh water and will not drink the saline water at first. But when it will have no other alternative, it will be forced to drink the saline water of the Sundarbans and will die either from thirst, hunger or from the consumption of saline water.

This is just a possible scenario with respect to the released captive tiger. Now the response from the residents of the area such as a monkey, deer, birds around and a resident tiger would be simply unimaginable. All non-carnivorous animals will raise havoc and panic at the site of a tiger within their vicinity and start producing alarm calls. As the released tiger is from a zoo, it will not know how to respond to such alarm calls from the prey species. It will remain standing in open without making any attempt to hide under a bush or a tree because that is not in its instinctive heritage.

Within a day or two the resident tiger of the area, be it a male or female, will realise that it has an intruder in its territory. Survival and protective instincts will plague the resident tiger into frenzy, looking for signs of the intruder. Upon sighting the newly released tiger, the territory-holding resident tiger will inevitably attack it. Zoo tigers have no survival instincts on how to defend themselves from the attack of other tigers. So in a matter of minutes, the introduced tiger will be killed by the resident tiger. It will be a disaster.

So, international cat groups, world association of zoos and aquariums (WAZA) -- umbrella body for all the renowned and member zoos of the world (of which I am the only Bangladeshi member not from Bangladesh but from Dubai for running the Dubai zoo) -- and CBSG do not recommend releasing a big cat into a wilderness area where there is already naturally occurring resident tiger, leopard, lion or snow leopard. Such animals can only be released in a completely fenced off new area or an island freshly populated with proper vegetation and animals needed to sustain a pair of tigers, leopards, etc.

Also such would-be released animals must be reared from the first day of their birth in a way that will keep them from any human contact. Instead they should be raised in such a way that they get the feeling of being raised by a tigress and the solid food offered them should be as close to their natural food such as deer, pig, junglefowl, etc. Also as they grow up they should be given a chance to hunt their own food, rather than be fed. This protocol is impossible for any zoo in Bangladesh to follow with the present management system in place.

So, as a member of the Cat Specialist group, CBSG and WAZA, I request the Ministry of Environment and Forest not to allow any zoo of Bangladesh to release its tigers, leopards or even fishing cats into wilderness areas of the country.

Now what Dhaka Zoo can do with its surplus animals?

I take this opportunity to render some insight and possible suggestions:

1. Dhaka zoo or for that matter any zoo of Bangladesh is not run by any scientist but veterinarians who have no clue to the ecology and behaviour of the wild animals that are kept in zoos round the world. Our zoos are managed by veterinarians who are fantastic animal physicians but poor with the treatment of wild animals because they have not had the opportunity to treat wild animals while completing their bachelor's degree courses from Mymensingh or other agricultural and veterinary institutions of the country. None of them know how to manage a zoo but they do so because these intuitions are managed by the Department of Livestock services that have appointed them in the first place. So they become ex-officio zoo managers/curators without having any proper clue to the management of the wild animals in captivity.

2. Dhaka zoo is to be held responsible for breeding such a large number of animals without having any future plans for each species.

3. Each zoo must have a master plan for structure as well as living residents of a captive breeding centre. Dhaka Zoo and other zoos in the country do not have any such plan in place.

4. They must have mechanisms to control the zoo population of animals, including family planning, using anti-pregnancy pills, putting on coils, breeding inhibition patch, separating males from the females, etc. These are all managerial decisions that none of our curators can take because they do not have nay management policy governing their actions or experience.

5. Many zoos in the world cull a certain number of animals after failing to donate or exchange those with other captive breeding institutions.

6. Hoofed mammals like the deer, hippoand monkeys that are neither endangered as per the List of Threatened Animals of the IUCN nor that of Bangladesh, can even be used as food for some carnivores to control their population inside a zoo.

None of the Bangladesh zoos are of any international standard nor do they go by the ethics of the zoo world. Zoologists, zoological societies, city councils, corporations, environment, wildlife and forest departments or ministries or even private companies manage zoos round the world. But none by Livestock services whose main job is the welfare and management of domestic animals round the world.

Bangladesh immediately needs to establish a separate Department of Zoos or Bangladesh Zoo Authority (BAZA) under the existing Ministry of Environment and Forestry and bring all zoos and captive breeding centres of the country under one management/umbrella. This is because zoos keep wild animals as exhibits and domestic animals as food for the animals exhibited. Our veterinarians and animal husbandry people are concerned with cattle, goat, buffalo, sheep chicken, and ducks, whereas MOEF is responsible for the management of the wild animals of the country and to control the international and national trades of wild animals through the regulations of the CITES (Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of fauna and flora) and Bangladesh Wildlife Preservation Act.

This new body or BAZA must be managed by people involved in the study of ecology and behaviour of the wild animals in nature and would be in charge of appointing one or two veterinarians per zoo depending upon its size and animal population to run each zoo's vet. clinic only.

BAZA should become a member of the WAZA, CBSG and if possible of IUCN and WWF, develop guidelines for managing modern barrier-free, state of the art zoos, prepare zoo management protocols, and register all captive animal species with the ISIS (International Species Information System) and get all the programmes of the ISIS through the CBSG or WAZA.

Main aim of the BAZA should be to make zoos as educational institutions with objectives of making these as popular places of attractions for the members of the public; centre of ex-situ breeding of rare and endangered species of home, region and abroad; a place for interaction with the wild animals close to one's home town; and take programme for reintroduction of certain captive-bred animals into the wilderness areas, such species in question are the hoofed mammals, wildfowl, ducks and geese, some turtles, monitor lizards and crocodile.

Overall a zoo should be a place of animal conservation, learning, amusement and earning.

Dr. Reza Khan, formerly an Associate Professor of Zoology, Dhaka University, is Head of Dubai Zoo, Member, World Commission of Protected Areas, Cat Specialist Group and CBSG of IUCN, and World Zoo and Aquarium Association.