Bengaluru: The Central Zoo Authority Wednesday informed the Karnataka high court that a committee of experts has been constituted to formulate standard operating procedure (SOP) for ensuring safety of zoo staff and others.As the authority’s counsel submitted a copy of the office memorandum constituting the committee, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice KS Hemalekha disposed of a PIL filed by Cambridge-based conservationist Bhuvan and his mother B Pushpalatha of Mangaluru.The petitioners cited 17 fatal incidents that have occurred since 2012, including the death of a trainee veterinarian at the tiger and lion safari in Shivamogga following an attack by a hippopotamus.During the hearing, the bench orally said, “You get into the tiger enclosure there. No common sense permits you to do that. You don’t need a protocol not to enter a tiger enclosure. How do you restrain an animal?”The bench pointed out that in one case a person goes into a king cobra enclosure and in another a person enters a tiger enclosure knowing that the animal is 14-years-old.Both these instances could have been avoided with application of common sense, the bench added.According to the petitioners, zoo staff and veterinary professionals suffered injuries as a result of entering into animal enclosures without taking any safety measures.The petitioners stated that when an RTI query was filed seeking whether any SOP or protocols were in place for ensuring the safety of zoo staff and other personnel, the response was that there was none.In this backdrop, it would be necessary for the zoo authorities to ensure proper safety protocols and SOPs are formulated and necessary instructions are issued for safety of the staff and others.The counsel for the petitioners submitted that the expert committee constituted by the authority may be directed to look into the 17 incidents mentioned in the petition.
