ISLAMABAD: The most popular animal of Marghazar Zoo, female elephant named Saheli, that has been suffering from severe pain in one of its legs for nearly a fortnight, on Sunday, fell down on ground and could not stand up despite all out efforts by the zoo attendants and veterinary officers.

On the other hand, samples of the animal’s excretion are being sent to the laboratory to know if the animal has really been poisoned as some insiders feared, Dawn has learnt reliably.

According to sources, two weeks ago, the right rear foot of the female elephant got injured with some sharp object – a nail or rock but management of the zoo did not bother to take it seriously. As a result, within a matter of days the minor injury turned into a severe wound and female elephant started limping.

Later, Veterinary Officer Dr Bilal Khilji was called for the medical help and Deputy Director Zoo Saleem Ansari (who is a veterinary doctor himself) supervised the treatment but the wound could not heal.

An officer of Capital Development Authority (CDA) requesting not to be named said: “Money which is collected from the citizens for offering them a ride and having pictures with the elephant is the reason behind all what happened.

“Whenever a new director takes charge of zoo, he tries to depute his favorite persons at the cage of the elephant. Mahaut (caretaker) of the female elephant, Bilal, was suspended about six month ago and two zoo attendants Riaz and Adil were deputed at her cage.

“Later, Bilal was reappointed on his previous position but he was not allowed to go in the elephant’s cage. And when the female elephant got injured, both attendants ignored it as they had no prior experience of taking care of elephants.”

Another officer said: “Each elephant is worth Rs15 million and management of the zoo has been playing with the life of animals for the sake of a few hundred thousand rupees which are collected every month.

“Elephants never lay on ground during day time but the female elephant has been down for the whole day, which shows its condition was critical.”

Deputy Director Zoo, Saleem Ansari while talking to Dawn said: “A rock, wood or any other sharp object can injure the animal. We have been giving proper attention and treatment to the animal since it got injured and hopefully it will recover within few days”. Zoo attendants and veterinary officer will do their best to save the animal, he assured.

Director Marghazar Zoo Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah said he had spent the whole day along with the elephant and the administration was trying its level best in this regard.

Responding to a query regarding chances of poisoning the animal, he confirmed: “There is politics in the zoo. Therefore, urine and stool samples of the sick elephant are being sent to the laboratory to know if the animal has been poisoned.”

According to witnesses, zoo attendants tried to help the elephant to stand many times on Sunday but they failed, however, her wound was washed and medicine was applied on it.

A large number of citizens who had come to the zoo to enjoy the weekend with their families also gathered outside the cage of the ailing elephant and blamed zoo management for negligence.

Surprisingly, the male elephant that has never been cooperative with the zoo attendants went near his zoo-mate and tried to help her out but in vain.

Mohammad Naeem, who had come along with his son to visit the zoo, said it was really painful to see the condition of the elephant. “While I was a kid in 90s, I got a chance to enjoy a ride on its back and now it is painful to imagine that the elephant might not survive or it might not walk again at least”.

Another citizen Salahuddin said: ''In Pakistan, medical facilities are not available even for human beings, what to talk of the poor animals.''

The animal was donated by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Begum Khalida Zia back in 1992 and thousands of commoners besides Chairman Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his two sisters Asifa and Bakhtawar have had a ride on it while they were kids.