No meat for animals at Kanpur zoo after shutdown of city’s slaughterhouses

lucknow

Updated: Mar 24, 2017 22:30 IST

Carnivorous animals at the Kanpur Zoological Park have been put on a “forced fast” since Wednesday as the zoo administration has run short of meat supply.

All four slaughterhouses of Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) have been closed, resulting in the suspension of meat supply for animals.

Closure of illegal and mechanised slaughterhouses has been among the pre-poll commitments of chief minister Adityanath’s BJP, which was voted to power in the state recently with a massive majority.

The saffron party seems to be acting on its promise, with a number of abattoirs across Uttar Pradesh being subjected to raids and shutdowns.

The Kanpur zoo has 70 carnivorous animals, including lion Ajay and lioness Nandini.

A tiger, Abhay, was brought here in 2010 while the lions arrived in December, 2016.

A senior officer at the zoo said a male carnivorous animal needed 12kg of meat every day while females required 10kg.

“The zoo requires 150kg of buffalo meat every day. The meat is provided by a contractor who supplied it on Tuesday but could not today,” he said. “The pregnant ones are being given chicken but they are not interested. Many of them have not touched food since morning.”