Ailing Karachi Zoo elephant Noor Jehan passes away

Ailing elephant Noor Jehan, who was under treatment after collapsing in its pen at Karachi Zoo around a week ago, passed away on Saturday, animal rights activist Mahera Omar confirmed.

“She (Jehan) rests in peace now,” said Omar, who had been closely working with vets treating the deceased pachyderm’s treatment.

The 17-year-old African elephant had undergone emergency treatment for a tumour in Karachi on April 5, but had collapsed days later. Since then, it had lain stricken on its side in her enclosure at the zoo.

Following her fall, a team of local vets had been working remotely with Four Paws — an international animal welfare organisation — to monitor the elephant’s health.

Noor Jehan’s prolonged predicament

Earlier this month, the Four Paws’ team had arrived at Karachi Zoo following an SOS from zoo officials after they failed to diagnose and treat Jehan, who had been suffering for months and became so ill that she was unable to move.

Her condition had improved after getting treatment from foreign experts who detected a large haematoma in her abdomen and found the perineal membrane ruptured.

The experts had cautioned that Jehan was an intensive-care patient, requiring 24-hour monitoring along with medication and physical therapy.

The zoo staff was reportedly negligent in implementing the instructions and within four days of the team’s departure, the elephant reportedly had fallen into a pond.

Earlier this week, zoo officials told news agency AFP that animal experts were to decide whether Jehan needed to be euthanised.

Jehan’s fate now lies with a committee waiting for the arrival of Amir Khalil, the Austria-based chief vet of Four Paws International and head of the team that treated Jehan for the tumour, the AFP report said.

It quoted Khalil as saying that he wanted to have “one last try” at helping the pachyderm recover.

Meanwhile, Four Paws said, “Her (Jehan) condition remains critical and uncertain.”

In August last year, Noor Jehan and her pen pal, Madhubala, were operated for chronic tusk infection by a Four Paws’ team.

In 2021, the team had submitted a report to the Sindh High Court, recommending a series of steps on elephants’ welfare after it was approached by a group of citizens worried over animals’ plight.

The team strongly suggested shifting the zoo elephants to Safari Park on the grounds that it had comparatively lower noise pollution and a better species-specific environment.

Both Noor Jehan and Madhubala, along with two other Safari elephants, were caught and separated from their mothers at a very young age in Tanzania in 2010 and brought to Karachi under a controversial agreement.

Pakistan’s zoos are frequently accused of disregarding animal welfare, and in 2020 a court ordered the only facility in the country’s capital to close because of its decrepit state.

Now, in light of Jehan’s plight, the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) has also called for the establishment of an independent zoo management committee with appropriate civil society representation.

It has also called upon the Sindh government and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation — the body responsible for running the zoo in the metropolis — to carefully evaluate the dismal conditions at zoos and make well-informed decisions about their future viability.