WE cannot but be horrified by a recent report appearing in this newspaper regarding the horrendous conditions that the animals in the Dhaka zoo are living in. What causes us concern in particular is the number of deaths at the zoo. We find the reported death of 18 rare animals in one year very abnormal, particularly of rare species brought in from abroad and relocated to a completely newenvironment.

We would like to see the zoo authorities not make the acceptable limits' of animal deaths a statistic to hide behind. Much better would have been if they had striven to turn the figure in favour of the animals by increasing the survival rate. The zoo authorities should have done everything to ensure that the conditions which the rare species had been used to living in are replicated as closely as possible in their new abode and that the process of adapting was made as easy and as bearable as possible.

We all too often forget that even animals require humane treatment, more so when they are living in a confined and new environment which they consider hostile. Their physical needs are overlooked and provisions meant for them are often pilfered, depriving the animals of their full requirement of food and forage, causing them to be emaciated and making them prone to diseases. The animals have medical needs too, and it is for the zoo authorities to ensure that they are not infected by diseases prevailing outside the zoo, which it has not.

It is unfortunate but true that the greatest danger animals in the cage face is from us, the human beings. Needless to say, the visitors at the zoo too have a role to play in the wellbeing of the inmates. It is said that many of the ailments the animals suffer from are attributable to overfeeding by the visitors who take pleasure in feeding them without realising the harm they are doing. Given that nearly 10,000 people visit the zoo daily there is need to make them aware of the do's and don'ts inside the zoo.

If there is anything worse than not having a zoo at all is having a poorly kept one. The prevalent condition of Dhaka zoo is unacceptable. It needs radical improvement urgently.