KARACHI, Oct 28: A lone female bear said to be one of the longest surviving mammals at the city zoo died last week, it emerged on Monday.

The Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus), which was registered as a black Himalayan bear in the record book of Karachi Zoological Gardens, lived its life without a name and a mate.

There is no other bear species at the zoo.

“It was suffering from multiple problems including paralysis and was under treatment. Her death made us sad though we are satisfied that we had provided the best care to her. She was certainly one of the oldest members of the zoo family,” said additional director at the zoo Syed Aqeel Tazeem Naqvi.

According to him, the bear was at least 20 years old but sources said the species was between 12 and 15.

“The female bear was brought without a mate. Earlier, a pair was brought to the zoo in the early 1990s and after their death two bear cubs were brought but they couldn’t survive,” a senior zoo staff said.

The sources said that it would be difficult for the zoo to acquire another animal of the same species as they were hardly available for ‘sale’ now as had been 20 years ago.

The average lifespan of the Asian black bear in the wild is 25 years, while the oldest Asian black bear in captivity reportedly died at the age of 44, according to the information available on the internet.

The species is seen much across the Himalayas and the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, Taiwan, Korea, northeast China, the Russian Far East and the islands of Japan.

It is classed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a vulnerable species, mostly due to deforestation and active hunting for its body parts.

Pythons at animal house

The lab staff of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) animal house, where pythons have been kept for the past few months, are worried over the fact that the zoo authorities have neither expressed their interest in taking back the pythons nor have they paid for the lab services.

Among other things, the 14 pythons are being fed with mice, rats and rabbits after every 10 days.

“The zoo staff had told us that the pythons would be taken back as soon as their condition normalised. However, three months had passed and the zoo is not yet ready to take them back,” said Dr Zameer Ahmed, the official in charge of the animal house of the DUHS animal sciences department.

The zoo administration, he said, had been reminded thrice on the phone of their commitment but to no avail.

“With the winter approaching fast, we now have to provide them with warm space so that they can hibernate in the cold weather,” Dr Ahmed said.

Of the 19 pythons handed over to the lab by the zoo, five pythons have died so far. Four of them ate each other while one died soon after their arrival, he added.

All the pythons, according to the lab staff, were sick and were being forced-fed at the time of handover but now they had completely recovered and had also gained weight. One boa constrictor had increased its size from 300 grams to one-and-a-half kilos, they said.

When Mr Naqvi was asked about it, he said the reptile house was under repair and the pythons would be taken back as soon as the work was over.

“We have also planned training of our staff by DUHS experts so that the pythons can be well taken care of at the zoo,” he said.

“The bills will also be paid,” he added.

It was in February this year that a consignment of 31 reptiles was seized at the Karachi airport after the importer, Sam Farms, failed to produce the mandatory import documents. The customs authorities handed over the confiscated animals to zoo officials for safe keeping until the case is solved.

Ten baby pythons died later at the zoo due to lack of care, compelling the authorities to hand over the remaining 19 pythons to the DUHS. However, the two big pythons — a 17-foot-long reticulated python and a 12-foot-long albino reticulated python — were shifted for a pet show to Safari Park from where they disappeared under mysterious circumstances in June.

The zoo administration remained silent on the issue for over three months. It was only after Sindh Local Bodies Minister Syed Owais Muzaffar ordered an inquiry into the cases of zoo animals being reported as ‘missing’ or allegedly stolen that the facility for captive animals recently declared their death.