"I have never seen a lion in my life; not even a giraffe, except on TV," says Sumera Iqbal, a ten year old girl visiting the Marghazar Zoo along with her siblings and parents after almost two years.
The last time she visited the zoo in 2013 in hope to see a lion and giraffe; she returned disappointed and the zoo administration promised to arrange more animals in the near future. Much to her dismay, two years down the lane and the animals are no where to be seen.
“Although, the names of different animals are mentioned on a board put up at the zoo, these animals are not here," Sumera exclaims.
Like Sumera, another kid named Areeb Imtiaz, 8, from Rawalpindi, who is visiting along with his parents says, “My father promised me a visit to the zoo upon passing my exams with good marks. I was anxious to see all my favourite animals”.
He claims that there is an aviary here, but the zoo is lacking dozens of animals including a lion, giraffe, kangaroo, horse, camel, black bear, leopard and tiger.
It is difficult to understand that the administration of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) established a zoo along the famous Margala Hills where the lack of so many animals is making visitors completely lose interest.
Haleema Kamal, 14, a resident of Jhelum district also reached the Marghazar Zoo along with her class fellows.
“Our school administration arranged this trip to Islamabad to visit the Marghazar Zoo. I am very disappointed to be here since some of the major animals are missing and most of us already want to leave", says the 14 year with her eyes visibly filled with disappointment.
According to the administration of the Marghazar Zoo, this place was established in 1978 which occurred on 25 acres of land along with the Margala Hills while the annual budget of the zoo is around 30 million.
Amjad Ali, 45, a resident of Sector G-10/4 says that the CDA should improve the conditions of the zoo since at times like these when terrorism is on the rise, recreation for the youth is very essential.
The Director Marghazar Zoo, Abdul Rasheed told Dawn.com that around 2000 people, including women and children like to visit the zoo in a day. While the visitors want to see a variety of animals the management is facing the shortage of funds.
He says that the majority of the animals present at the zoo were donated by the local and foreign governments. While the administration only purchases animals incase they fail to get donations.
“The environment department of the CDA has prepared a master plan to expand the zoo up to 80 acres of land which costs approximately Rs. 1.4 billion, while the authority believes that it will succeed to allocate funds in the next fiscal year,” the Director of the Marghazar zoo gives his reassurance.
He added that the administration is also interested in building an animal hospital inside the premises.
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