A citizens’ forum has flagged discrepancies in the number of animals at the Alipore zoo on the last day of 2023-24 and the first day of 2024-25.

More than 300 animals were found “missing overnight”, according to the annual inventory report of the Central Zoo Authority that was cited by the citizens’ collective, Save Wild Animals of Zoo and Our Nature (Swazon).

The facility in Alipore is India’s oldest zoo, which turned 150 last year.

A PIL filed by the forum is likely to be heard by Calcutta High Court this week.

The petition has alleged “gross administrative negligence” on the part of the zoo.

It has sought an order compelling the zoo authorities to submit the annual inventory of the past 10 years and provide an explanation for the discrepancies.

The PIL has also sought the court’s intervention to stop a bid by the state government to sell a parcel of the land that houses a hospital for animals and an aquarium, among other zoo infrastructure.

The “Annual Inventory of Animals in Zoos” report, published annually by the CZA, shows that Alipore Zoo had 672 animals on March 31, 2024, the last day of fiscal 2023-24.

On April 1, 2024, the first day of 2024-25, the number was 351.

“This means a mismatch of 321 animals between the closing stock and the opening stock. Where did the animals go? They could not have disappeared overnight. The zoo authorities must answer,” Swarnali Chatterjee, one of the members of Swazon,
told a news conference on Wednesday.

The CZA is the nodal body under the Union ministry of environment that oversees all 157 recognised zoos in the country. “We have constituted an inquiry committee,” said Clement Ben, the member-secretary of the CZA.

The director of the zoo, Arun Mukherjee, declined comment, saying the matter was sub-judice. A source in the zoo linked the mismatch to a “computing error”, assuring that no animal was missing.

Sandeep Sundriyal, the chief wildlife warden of Bengal, told The Telegraph: “A high-level probe has been ordered. A report is awaited.”

At the news conference on Wednesday, the NGO members pointed out that this was not the first time a mismatch had been spotted.

“Animals have been disappearing every year. On April 1, 2011, the zoo had 1,452 animals. From there, the number went down to 351 on April 1, 2024,” said Chatterjee.

Wildlife activists have expressed shock at the alleged irregularities.

“The discrepancy is nothing short of alarming. Even if we make room for wrongful insertion of figures regarding the number of animals, one is at a loss to comprehend how this could be repeated year after year. One cannot rule out other possibilities, including that of wildlife trade, especially unaccounted and unrecorded forms of wildlife trade,” said Shubhobroto Ghosh, Wildlife Campaigns Manager, World Animal Protection in India.

Jawhar Sircar, retired bureaucrat and former Trinamool MP, was at the news conference. “The authorities must give an explanation,” he said.