Days after a female Humboldt Penguin died at Byculla Zoo in Mumbai, an animal rights body today demanded an investigation into the permissions granted for import of these flightless birds.
Humane Society International (HSI) India said that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) imported eight Humboldt Penguins in July 2016 from Seoul for display at the Byculla Zoo and were kept in a quarantine for acclimatisation but on October 23, one of them died.
The body said that the post-mortem report for this bird has indicated that she died of severe septicemia.
"I urge you to order an immediate investigation into the permissions granted for import of these penguins. I also urge you to disallow BMC or Byculla Zoo from importing any more animals and undertake actions to return the seven penguins into their natural habitat," said N G Jayasimha, Managing Director of HSI India in his letter to B S Bonal of CITES Management Authority of India under the Environment Ministry.
Humboldt Penguins are migratory animals, native to Chile and Peru in South America and they are a CITES Appendix I species and have been declared 'vulnerable' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
They are also a CMS Appendix I species which indicates that they have been assessed as 'being in danger of extinction' and as stipulated by CITES, Appendix I species cannot be traded for commercial purposes.
"Humboldt Penguins can be acquired only for educational purposes from a CITES-registered captive breeding facility when accompanied with legitimate import-export permits and certificates of captive breeding.
"It is unclear if Coex Aquarium, the South Korea-based facility from which BMC procured these animals, is CITES registered and if BMC has secured all the required import certifications from your office," Jayasimha said.
According to reports, eight Humboldt Penguins - three male and five female - were brought from Coex Aquarium at Seoul, South Korea, to Byculla Zoo and the purchase was part of a multi-crore project that included funds for setting up a special temperature-controlled enclosure for them.
Jayasimha said that the zoo has been noted to have a very
poor track record of captive animal care and in 2010-2011 alone, 39 mammals, 22 birds and 10 reptiles died at this zoo.
"Earlier this month, the zoo was also issued a notice by CZA giving it time until the end of 2016 to improve its animal housing facilities or risk losing its license," he said in the letter.
Jayasimha said that CITES has also prescribed in Resolution Conf 11. 20 that prior to allowing the import of live animals it must be ensured that the 'Scientific Authority of the State of import is satisfied that the proposed recipient of a living specimen is suitably equipped to house and care for it'.
"If an audit of this zoo had been carried out by India's CITES to evaluate its suitability and appropriateness for the housing and care of the Humboldt penguins under norms prescribed by CITES, it is highly unlikely that it would have passed," he said.
The death of Dory, the young female penguin, due to septicemia while still in quarantine points to very poor standards in the actual care being provided by the zoo.
"Further, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) has prescribed strict standards for the captive keeping of Humboldt penguins, including their maintenance at a constant temperature range of 4-25 degrees.
"Thus, the continued keeping of the remaining 7 penguins in an air-conditioned enclosure in a deplorably run zoo in a city prone to power cuts, water shortage and humid climate with the additional threat of being exposed to lethal infections will be highly inhumane and irresponsible," he said.
