Kangaroos are used to living in desert-like conditions

The death of a two-year-old kangaroo at Alipore zoo on the coldest day of the season so far has raised questions about why the zoo did not arrange to keep the enclosure of the marsupial, used to desert-like conditions, warm during the cold spell.

The male kangaroo died on December 23 but the news was made public only on Monday night.

Zoo authorities said the kangaroo, one of the four gifted by the Czech Republic six months ago, had been suffering from “acute lung infection”. It had stopped eating and started staying indoors since the beginning of December.

“Calcutta was experiencing extremely cold climate when the kangaroo fell ill and died,” said zoo director Rohit Tiwari. “It started with a bout of cold in the second week of December. We arranged for treatment but the animal did not respond to medicines and ultimately died of lung infection.”

The kangaroo was diagnosed with the infection on December 21 and only then did the zoo authorities install room heaters and depute a zoo-keeper on permanent duty to ensure that the enclosure remained warm at all times.

A wildlife expert suggested that the zoo authorities had handled the kangaroos rather clumsily. “The sudden cold spell was bound to affect them and the zoo should have immediately reacted to the climate change,” said a wildlife expert.

“Red kangaroos are found in the semi-desert regions of central Australia, where the temperature is always on the higher side. When the Celsius started dipping in Calcutta, the zoo authorities should have arranged to make the enclosure warmer. That would have protected the kangaroo from chest infection,” said a senior forest official and wildlife expert unwilling to be named.

The mercury had started dropping since the second week of December, when the kangaroo fell ill. The day the animal died the city’s maximum temperature was six degrees below normal at 21.2 degrees Celsius and the minimum was three degrees below normal at 10.8 degrees Celsius.

This was the second kangaroo death in Alipore zoo after one of its companions from Czech Republic died in August last year, barely two months after its arrival. The normal lifespan of a kangaroo is 24 years. Two red kangaroos, one male and the other female, remain at Alipore zoo.

The latest death has sparked allegations of negligence against the zoo authorities. “Why was the kangaroo not shifted to zoo hospital when its condition deteriorated?” said Rakesh Singh, the leader of a zoo employees’ federation affiliated to the Congress.

Zoo director Tiwari told Metro that the kangaroo was treated in its enclosure in fear that its condition could worsen if it was shifted to the hospital.

Sources, however, said the authorities could not take the kangaroo to the zoo hospital as there are only three part-time doctors. “There is just one senior doctor and two junior vets. All three are part-timers and are not available round the clock. If an animal is sick, it remains untreated for several hours before a doctor joins in the morning,” the source said.

Forest minister Hiten Barman said on Tuesday he had not been informed about the death by the zoo authorities. “The director never alerted me. I have asked him for a detailed report on the reason behind the death and why we were not informed.”

The zoo director said he had conveyed the news to the Central Zoo Authority.