zoo safety

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any corner of the zoo. 6. It is important to divide the zoos into different categories of security zones depending upon the area, threats and dangers involved. The.
ZOO SAFETY S. K. Basu1and W. Cetzal-Ix 2* University of Lethbridge, AB, Canada; 2Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatán, México; *email: [email protected] 1

It is extremely sad to note the tragic loss of precious lives in the zoos across the nation. Instead of a place to enjoy nature, natural beauty and education; zoo gardens are unfortunately turning into killing fields partly due to irrational and irresponsible behavior of the public as well as due to serious security lapses. However, it is important to mention that this is not just common in India but unfortunately several zoological gardens across the world in almost all the continents have encountered such unpleasant incidents as reported from US, China, UK, EU, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Middle-East, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand to mention only a handful. Since such unfortunate incidents continue to recur across the globe; it is important that the security of the zoo gardens need to be carefully scrutinized and the Best Management Practices (BMP) need to be developed. A careful review of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) should be conducted annually for removing any possible loopholes in the system operation. The following steps are suggested as important steps to potentially reduce incidents of such nature: 1.

2.

Education and awareness among the public to respect the wildlife in caged conditions in the zoo gardens. It is important to develop and emphasize to the general public on the educational value of the animal species at display in the zoos rather than their entertainment and commercial values. It is important to understand that the animals in the zoos are unlike those that people are used to enjoy in a circus neither are they docile pets, but they represent unfathomed power of nature and should be observed and respected from a safe distance. Overenthusiastic visitors eager to capture wild animals in their cameras and mobiles need to be cautioned, detained and fined if necessary for irresponsible and dangerous activities within zoo premises.

applied. Several previous incidents have been reported where the tranquilized animals have unfortunately died due to over dosage of the tranquilizer applied. 11. In addition emergency animal deterrents such as pepper spray, nonlethal crackers, smoke bombs etc or any other resource to disengage or distract the animal could be used. 12. The design of each zoo, the conditions of the cages and the enclosures of big mammals (particularly carnivores) need to carefully reviewed every year for better security. 13. All zoos must be equipped with some basic medical facilities and a small running hospital unit for dealing with any unexpected emergency situation. 14. Killing an animal in the zoo to protect human life is punishable and ethically out of question; unless an animal escapes the cage or its own enclosure and is a tremendous security threat to n u m b e r o f defenseless or helpless possible victims and/or people under serious attack. 15. All necessary emergency numbers should be clearly displayed at several important points and junctions inside the zoo premises. 16. There should be some public telephone facilities made available within the zoo premises for both the visitors and security staff for urgent communications with the central zoo administrative and main security office/center for any emergency situation inside zoo premises.

3.

Surveillance and monitoring in the zoos across the nation need to increased several folds.

4.

Well trained additional security personnel need to be employed to keep eye on both the public as well as the animals.

17. For security reasons there need to be some cap or regulation on visitor number institutionalized for the security of the zoo animals and the visitors. Over crowding inside the zoo is a precursor to possible accidents and need to be avoided under any circumstances. Hence, regulating the number of visitors during festive seasons and major national holidays need to be regulated for the benefit of all.

5.

Powerful communication systems need to be installed for the security guards so that they could respond to an alarm(s) raised in any corner of the zoo.

18. Any major or minor security incidents within the zoo should be documented and investigated by appropriate agencies or by the committee responsible for zoo security.

6.

It is important to divide the zoos into different categories of security zones depending upon the area, threats and dangers involved. The number of security personnel will thereby depend upon the area of the zone under observation and the level of danger perception.

19. Depending on the gravity of the incident local or federal agencies need to be invited for thorough investigations, timely submission of reports and recommendations.

7.

Security cameras need to be installed to capture the behavior of zoo visitors at several key points and important junctions throughout the zoo.

8.

Security personnel need to be increased on special holidays such as Christmas, New year and other days on which the average foot fall are increased several folds including busy visitor seasons depending upon the region of the country where the particular zoo is located.

9.

Each zoo must have their emergency response team that can respond to delicate situations such as an individual trapped in an animal enclosure.

10. Arrangements for tranquilizers and specialized guns for administering them should be made compulsory for all zoos across the nation to bring the animal under control. Standard tranquilizing doses for big and dangerous wild animals based on their body weight should be properly notified in the kits so that the animal does not die out of trauma and over dosage while tranquilizers are

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20. Any major recommendation(s) suggested by the investigating committee should be taken seriously and when possible implemented.

Crisp articles are invited for publication in NESA Newsletter, specially on Clean Ganga, Linking of Rivers, Watershed Management and Wasteland Development. Dr. A. Arunachalam, General Secretary, NESA

NESA Newsletter November 2014