Death of animals in Sepahijala sanctuary triggers furore, quality and quantity of food served raise questions

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, May 27, 2025

The death of two four yearold lion cubs and full-grown spotted deer in the Sepahijala wildlife sanctuary over the past fortnight has triggered a furore with people knowledgeable about the internal realities of the sanctuary holding the food suppliers to the animals responsible for the high rate of death of animals. According to sources from within the sanctuary the suppliers who provide food to the animals have set up an unholy alliance with the zoo management supply mush less food than stipulated by the terms of their tender and force the dumb animals to spend days in semi-starvation. A gang of local political leaders also help the unscrupulous food suppliers in lieu of payments. This results in falling immunity of the caged animals , leading to premature deaths. Sources said that this racket has been operational for a long time as no government has been able to rein in the intrinsically corrupt food suppliers and the zoo employees and officers. Besides, the quality of food served is also highly suspect as a large portion of them is stale, rotten and extremely harmful to animal health.

However, speaking on the death of two lion cubs ,Mero and Chiro, on May 15 and 25, the doctor of the zoo Keshav Debnath said that the death of the two cubs was anticipated as they were offsprings of a pair who were brother and sister in relation. “The children of brother and sister are generally born with congenital genetical disorder and do not survive long, according to veterinary science ; Mero and Chiro had been brought from north Bengal last year in February and their parents were named Ram and Sita who were brother and sister to each other; this made us sure that Mero and Chiro would not survive long ; the two cubs had developed low immunity and gastritis problems and though we had brought experts from the veterinary college the cubs could not be saved; we have sent the viscera of the two cubs to a lab in Hyderabad to ascertain the reasons for their death ; they were cremated within the sanctuary on Sunday” said Dr Keshav Debnath.

Even though Dr Keshav Debnath said nothing on the quality and quantity of food served to the animals in the zoo , sources said that food is the main reason for the frequent death of animals . They demanded a high level inquiry and corrective steps in the matter.

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