AN URGENT APPEAL FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL VETERINARY ASSISTANCE FOR MALIKA, SONU, NOOR JEHAN AND MADHU BALA,
THE FOUR TANZANIAN ELEPHANTS AT THE KARACHI SAFARI PARK AND ZOO
8TH JANUARY 2021
This appeal was delivered by hand to the Chief Metropolitan Commissioner and the Minister for Wildlife, Mr Murad Ali Shah and Chief Minister Sindh.
This appeal was also sent electronically to Advisor to the Prime Minister, Mr Malik Amin Aslam; the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency, Director-General Farzana Altaf Shah; the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism in Tanzania, Dr Damas D Ndumbaro; High Commissioner Sylvester Mwakinyuke Sangala Ambokile, Tanzanian High Commission to South Africa; High Commissioner Mazhar Javed, Pakistan High Commission to South Africa; Sofie H. Flensborg, Legal Officer, Legal Affairs and Compliance CITES Secretariat; Ivonne Higuero, Secretary General CITES; the Chairperson of the African Union, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi; the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa; the Minister of the Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Barbara Creecy and Mahera Omar, Founder of the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society
The Pro Elephant Network (PREN) consists of an international community of diverse individuals and organizations, comprising expertise from both western and eastern academies, including the fields of science, health, conservation, animal welfare, economics, community leadership, social justice and the law.
URGENT VETERINARIAN INTERVENTION
Members of the Pro Elephant Network have received images and videos of Malika, Sonu, Noor Jehan and Madhu Bala, four elephants held in captivity at the Karachi Safari Park and at the Karachi zoo. The same images and videos are being circulated on various social media platforms. Elephant experts have analysed this material and have advised that in order to prevent unnecessary premature death, an urgent medical assessment and intervention is required.
Members of the Pro Elephant Network are willing to offer expertise, specifically to provide much needed critical veterinary and husbandry support. The implementation of high-priority measures is needed to mitigate the elephants’ critical state of health and to alleviate their obvious suffering.