ISLAMABAD: Two white tiger cubs died at a zoo in the central Pakistani city of Lahore on Thursday, the latest in a series of incidents that have put the spotlight on Pakistan in recent months over the treatment of animals at various zoos in the country.
Last month, authorities in Karachi said Malka, a female elephant at a safari park in the city, had a painful winter rash, which experts said indicated dehydration and a lack of adequate food and medical attention.
Last year, the “world’s loneliest elephant,” Kaavan, was rescued from a life of misery in Islamabad Zoo and sent to a sanctuary in Cambodia, and two Himalayan brown bears, Suzie and Bubloo, were airlifted to a wildlife park in Jordan.
Last December, authorities in the northern city of Peshawar said a giraffe from the city’s zoo had died due to unknown causes, the fourth giraffe death that year.
About 40 petitioners also moved the Sindh High Court last October after a video of Ranoo, a 20-year-old Syrian brown bear at the Karachi Zoo, in which social media users said she looked “exhausted,” went viral.

“According to Lahore Zoo Director Chaudhry Shafqat, both cubs were three months old,” Pakistani news channel Geo News reported. “Three months ago, the female white tiger had given birth to three cubs, one of which had died right away due to weakness. The remaining two cubs were sick for the past two months and died today [Thursday].”
Around 68 animals remain in severe conditions in captivity in Pakistan, Dr. Amir Khalil, a vet with rescue organization Four Paws, has said.
Two former dancing bears were the final animals to be rescued from the Islamabad zoo last year after a court ordered the zoo be closed following years of campaigning by advocates including US pop star Cher, who supported the transfer of elephant Kaavan to a sanctuary with other elephants in Cambodia.
Khalil and his team sedated the male bear, Bubloo, while female Suzie, after a week of training reinforced by her favorite food, fish, could use her transport crate without sedation. The bears had severe health problems and Suzie had no teeth and a tumor that had warranted lifesaving emergency surgery.
The bears are now being rehabilitated in a Jordan sanctuary where they share thousands of acres of forest with ten other bears.
Khalid has told media the closure of Islamabad Zoo could set a powerful precedent and he hoped to return when the zoo was turned into a wildlife rescue center.
“There are lot of animals not only in Pakistan, everywhere in the world in bad (conditions) in captivity,” he said. “The high court already proved that Pakistan could be the lead to take very strict positions to ensure that animals don’t deserve to suffer.”