Nine zebras in perfectly good health have died inside Gazipur’s Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park under mysterious circumstances in the past three weeks.
Authorities say the zebras are dying within 20-25 minutes after experiencing a sudden rise in their body temperature and breathing difficulties.
The park has never seen so many zebras with no medical histories die within such a short time, said Assistant Forest Conservator Tabibur Rahman, who is in-charge of the safari park.
A meeting in this regard will take place on Tuesday, he said. “To investigate the cause of the deaths, we had sent samples from the dead zebras' bodies and their food to labs around the country.”
Some of the lab reports said the zebras had harmful bacteria in their system, while others said their food contained pesticides, according to Rahman.
Some also reported the zebras had Covid-19. “However, reports from the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) said, the animals were not infected with the coronavirus,” he added.
The authorities of the park said they had been taking precautions since the first week of January when the first death was reported on January 2.
The latest was reported on January 25.
The animals are fed grass brought in from Mymensingh, and the staff followed the advice of experts and washed the grass to ensure they get clean food, said the top safari park official.
Currently there are eight pregnant zebras on the park grounds, and the park authorities are extremely concerned about them, he said.
Veterinarian Dr Zulkarnain of the park said the primary diagnosis revealed nothing major in the zebras’ systems.
“The results we found from the other labs will be presented at the meeting, and we will provide treatment as per their decision,” he said,
Last year, black and white stripes had truly taken over Gazipur’s Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park with the arrival of new zebra foals, as the breeding season began.
The total number of zebras in the park was 31, and of them, 15 were male and 16 female. Park authorities were delighted to see the zebras in good health.
They had also planned to export the zebras overseas, after meeting domestic demand.
