KARACHI, Aug 12: Three of the four cubs born to a pair of lions just five days back at the zoo were found dead inside their cage while the fourth one went missing in mysterious circumstances on Friday morning.

The news came as a rude shock to animal lovers who were delighted by their birth — the first lion cubs to be born at the zoological gardens in 30 years — on Sunday.

The bodies of only three cubs, one of them reportedly soaked, could be recovered from the cage where they were said to be living with their mother. The fourth one was eaten up by the lioness, according to zoo officials.

They, however, couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation about what led to the deaths of the other three. While the bodies were shifted to the zoo clinic, no post-mortem examination was carried out till late afternoon.

The pair of lions, Sarah and Alfred, ‘imported’ along with another pair of the same species, was seized by the customs authorities at the Karachi airport last year on grounds that the import licence was not valid and that the import of big cats was banned in the country.

After holding an inquiry, an additional collector of customs imposed penalties on the ‘importer’ and the national flag carrier and ordered that the confiscated big cats that had already been handed over to the zoo would remain there as government property.

Different versions

Sources said the cubs died when efforts were being made to cover a portion of the roof with a plastic sheet to protect the cage from rain.

“During that time the lioness got infuriated and started roaring and running. Since it’s a very small place, the babies’ got trampled under her feet,” a source said.

However, Irfan Ahmed, the person who claims that the animals were imported under valid documents, believed that the rainwater that got accumulated in the cage caused the babies’ death. “I managed to see one of the babies a day earlier and found it completely soaked,” he said, adding that it was sheer negligence and incompetence on the part of the zoo officials.

“I had been pleading to the zoo director to let my staff look after the babies as we have the expertise required to handle the lion cubs at this age. But the zoo director simply refused. Not only that, the zoo staff was not letting us see the cubs since their birth five days ago,” he said.

None of the zoo staff informed him even about the babies’ birth and it was only when his staff went to feed the animals on Monday that he got the news, he complained.

“The zoo has just provided its premises to keep the animals. I have been feeding and taking care of animals’ health since they arrived in Karachi over seven months ago. It’s ironic that the zoo staff didn’t bother to inform us,” he said.

Demanding the intervention of the governor and the chief secretary in the zoo affairs, Mr Ahmed said that it was time the government took notice of the “cruelty being shown to captive animals” and appoint a competent director and technical staff at the zoo.

“The zoo must not be run as a personal property. It’s a public place meant for education, animal conservation and recreation. I will go to the court and seek a claim,” he said.

Rejecting the zoo officials’ contention that one of the babies was eaten up by the lioness, he said, “I have imported these animals from South Africa from a farm where big cats are raised. The behaviour of captive animals is completely different from those that live in the wild. Even if you throw a live chicken in their cage, they won’t hurt it,” he said.

Fact-finding body

Speaking to Dawn, Mansoor Qazi, heading the zoo, said that he had set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the issue and would only comment once it presented its report.

“Right now, I can only say that they were examined by the vet a day earlier and they were found dead today. I have formed a committee comprising a private vet, Dr Isma Gheewala, the zoo vet, Dr Amir Ismail, and another person to file a report on the animals’ death,” he said while insisting that one of the cubs was eaten up by its mother.

Meanwhile, Karachi Administrator Fazlur Rehman appointed the EDO revenue as an inquiry officer to conduct an investigation into the death of the lion cubs and asked him to present its report within 15 days.