The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has decided to file a criminal case over the deaths of eleven zebras at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park in Sreepur, Gazipur, as recommended by the inquiry committee formed over the deaths.
According to the observations of the committee, all the zebras died due to the effects of excess nitrate in the grass they were fed and mixed bacterial infections. The cause of death of the first three zebras, which died on January 2 and 3, had been covered up by slicing their stomachs open.
The five-member inquiry committee submitted the report to the ministry on Sunday.
Following the submission of the committee’s report, Environment Minister Mohammad Shahab Uddin decided to file the criminal case during a meeting at the ministry on Tuesday, according to an Environment Ministry press release.
The inquiry report found some inconsistencies in the mysterious deaths of the zebras. The committee had asked for an intensive investigation into the matter of the zebras that were cut open, the press release said.
According to the report, no emergency medical board meeting was convened despite the unusual deaths of so many zebras, which amounts to irresponsibility on the part of the park’s officer-in-charge. The OC is supposed to convene a meeting of the Safari Park Medical Board as per the demand of the on-duty veterinary officer.
Although a general diary (GD) is usually filed in cases of unnatural deaths of animals, no GD was filed over the deaths of the zebras, the report added.
The secretary of the Environment Ministry visited the Safari Park on January 22, after eight zebras had already died. However, neither the project director, officer-in-charge, veterinary officer, nor any other employee informed the secretary about the deaths of the zebras.
The committee concluded that attempts were made to cover up the deaths of the zebras from the very beginning.
In addition to filing the criminal case, the Environment Ministry has decided to implement 11 short-term, 4 medium-term and 9 long-term recommendations from the inquiry committee to improve animal mortality and management at the safari park.
On January 26, the Environment Ministry formed a five-member committee to find the cause of death of the zebras, determine responsibility, and make recommendations to prevent a recurrence. The committee was supposed to submit the report within 10 working days, but it was later given a seven-day extension.
At the request of the committee, samples from the dead zebras were sent to the Department of Pathology and Department of Pharmacology of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Central Disease Research Laboratory (CDIL), Quality Control (QC) Lab of the Department of Animal Resources, Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), and chemical lab of the Criminal Investigation Department. Chemical tests on the soil were conducted at the Soil Resources Development Institute (SRDI).