Aizawl Zoo

Aizawl, Mizoram
February 2006

• Most of the animals had no food or water.
• Security was poor. At the time of the inspection, the zoo was supposed to be closed, yet investigators and tourists were allowed inside. A gate at one end of the zoo was left open and unattended, leaving animals vulnerable to intruders, such as the one who recently killed a bear at this zoo for his gall bladder. 
• The hoolock gibbon enclosure was completely unsecured, as the door was not locked.
• A sambar was so hungry and dehydrated that he was foaming at the mouth and repeatedly banged his horns against the wire mesh fence.

• Food was kept within sight but out of the reach of two baby langurs. No water was available.
• The water bowl in one porcupine enclosure was completely dry. The floor in another porcupine enclosure was broken and covered with rotten fruit. Algae grew in the water bowl.
• The enclosure of an unidentified animal was strewn with old pieces of ant-infested chicken flesh, and the drinking water was filthy.
• Four bay owls were kept in an enclosure with a broken cement floor and had only contaminated water to drink.
• A leopard was kept in a “rescue centre” with a broken cement floor. No water could be seen.
• Two Himalayan black bears looked very ill. The floor of their enclosure was littered with garbage.

The sambar has no food or water in his enclosure. He is foaming at the mouth from thirst.

The porcupine has dirty water, and the only food in his cage is a piece of rotten fruit. The enclosure is barren.

This animal looks tired and thirsty. His unmarked cage is very small, containing only a rotten piece of chicken half-eaten by ants.

The two black bears have no food or water in their dirty enclosure, which is littered with lots of plastic bags, stones and other debris.