ISLAMABAD: The only zoo in Pakistan’s capital — which drew international condemnation for its treatment of lonely elephant Kaavan — closed on Wednesday after its final occupants were relocated abroad.
Two Himalayan bears named Bubloo and Suzzee were the last to leave the Islamabad facility, almost three weeks after the country’s only Asian elephant was flown to a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia.
“The Islamabad zoo is now completely closed for both public and officials,” Saleem Shaikh, a spokesman for Pakistan’s ministry of climate change told AFP.
“Both the bears will be flown to a sanctuary in Jordan.”
Shaikh said the move was arranged with the help of Four Paws International — the same group that spearheaded the relocation of Kaavan whose plight championed by singer and Oscar-winning American actress Cher.
She flew to Pakistan to see the elephant’s departure, and then to Cambodia to watch him arrive.
The ailing health of Kaavan, an overweight, 35-year-old bull, highlighted the woeful state of Islamabad’s zoo, where conditions were so bad that a judge in May ordered all animals to be moved.
Two lions died during their relocation when zookeepers attempted to pry them from their pen by setting ablaze piles of hay.
An ostrich also died in the move.
Islamabad Zoo was established in 1978 on 10 hectares of land as a home for indigenous species.
Authorities now plan to expand it as a wildlife conservation center.
With little legislation to safeguard animal welfare, zoos across Pakistan are notorious for their poor conditions.
In 2018, some 30 animals died within months of a new zoo opening in the northwestern city of Peshawar, including three snow leopard cubs.
Pakistan capital’s zoo shuts after last animals moved
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Pakistan capital’s zoo shuts after last animals moved
- Two Himalayan bears named Bubloo and Suzzee were the last to leave the Islamabad facility to a sanctuary in Jordan
- Islamabad Zoo was established in 1978 on 10 hectares of land as a home for indigenous species
Pakistan, seven Muslim nations back Palestinian technocratic body, stress Gaza-West Bank unity
- The National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip was announced on January 14
- Muslim nations call for consolidation of the ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and seven other Muslim-majority countries on Thursday welcomed the formation of a temporary Palestinian technocratic body to administer Gaza, stressing that it must manage daily civilian affairs while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank amid the ongoing peace efforts.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Türkiye, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates said the newly announced National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip would play a central role during the second phase of a broader peace plan aimed at ending the war and paving the way for Palestinian self-governance.
“The Ministers emphasize the importance of the National Committee commencing its duties in managing the day-to-day affairs of the people of Gaza, while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, ensuring the unity of Gaza, and rejecting any attempts to divide it,” the statement said.
The committee, announced on Jan. 14, is a temporary transitional body established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 and is to operate in coordination with the Palestinian Authority, the ministers said.
The statement said the move forms part of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza, which the ministers said they supported, praising Trump’s efforts to end the war, ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces and prevent the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
The top leaders of all eight Muslim countries attended a meeting with Trump in New York last September, shortly before he unveiled the Gaza peace plan.
The ministers also called for the consolidation of the ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza, early recovery and reconstruction and the eventual return of the Palestinian Authority to administer the territory, leading to a just and sustainable peace based on UN resolutions and a two-state solution on pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
