Zubair Qureshi
The Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) and the Ministry of Climate Change (MOCC) informed the Islamabad High Court on Monday that the government had decided to send two Himalayan Brown Bears—caged for more than ten year in the Marghazar Zoo of Islamabad— to Al Ma’wa Sanctuary for Nature and Wildlife in Jordan. If everything goes according to the plan, the bears will be shifted from Pakistan to Jordan via a commercial flight on Dec 16, Wednesday. Earlier, the court had on Friday directed the ministry and the board to submit its plan for the brown bears’ rehabilitation by Monday.
In Dec 10 and Dec 11 hearings, the IWMB chairperson Rina S Khan and Secretary of MOCC Naheed Durrani had repeatedly insisted they were not going to send the bears away and the Ministry had even cancelled the CITES permit for their export to Jordan. The court exercising restraint had given them one more chance to submit a plan how bears could be taken care of in Pakistan and if they had consulted any international expert for that. After the IWMB counsel submitted his reply on Monday Chief Justice of IHC Athar Minallah disposed of the matter making an historic observation that a zoo, no matter how well-equipped is no less than a concentration camp for living beings.
The court said in its decision that they (Suzie and Bubloo) had suffered enough and lacked the ability to let the human species know what they might have gone through. CJ Athar Minallah welcoming the board’s decision made it clear the court’s first and foremost concern was welfare and wellbeing of the bears. “This is a step towards changing mindsets,” said the IHC CJ in his decision adding, “this court records its appreciation for the decision of the board not to subject these sentient living beings to further pain and suffering.”
