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Mumbai's zoo animals get stuffed
The death of a black bear at Byculla Zoo last week reminded us that part of a 100 million dollar makeover at Mumbai's Byculla Zoo includes a taxidermy museum
At the moment Mumbai's only zoo is the equivalent of an old-age home. And today, the heritage panel again delayed the revamp project, citing its concern over the preservation of the botanical garden.Last week Mangal, the Himalayan Black Bear at Mumbai's Byculla Zoo died. He was 35-years-old and the last male black bear they had.
This week Mangal is stuffed along with a python and leopard who passed away recently and all three will spend their afterlife on display, the way they did in reality.
"Officials plan to set up a taxidermy museum as part of a $100m makeover at the zoo, which occupies 53 acres of land in central Mumbai", says this BBC report. Zoos across the state of Maharashtra are now sending animal carcasses to a taxidermy centre in Mumbai, the only one of its kind in India.
Most of Mumbai's zoo inmates are aging and anti-cruelty laws do not permit new animals being brought in to replace them because the zoos existing enclosures for some animals do not conform with anti-cruelty guidelines.
Debi Goenka, an environmentalist who studies taxidermy, told the BBC taxidermy was an "ancient practice that was carried out for scientific studies or to show off hunted animals."
"Both these purposes are redundant now," she said. "Hunting as a sport is not allowed... so to stuff an animal's body which has anyways lived in captivity is just adding insult to injury," he said. "How would ministers and civil servants like it if they were stuffed...?"
