Staff Reporter
On a visit to North Karachi’s mini zoo in Sector 11-B it was witnessed that the utility has turned out to be home to hundreds of rats. In fact, the rats practically run the place: they move fearlessly between cages and eat all the animals’ food. But finding out that rats were also living in the zoo was not surprising for DMC Central Chairman Rehan Hashmi. “Rats are also a type of animal,” he said, so there’s no need to worry. Hashmi said the mini zoo is being run under a public-private partnership, so the rats are the contractor’s responsibility. “I am not aware of this. No one has brought the issue to my notice,” he said. Hashmi added that he would ask the contractor about it. A man who visited the zoo with his family shared videos of the rats with media men. In one video, birds shift to the other side of the cage to stay away from the rats, who are consuming their food. “It was a very bad experience visiting the North Karachi Mini Zoo as the cages were filthy and stinking,” they said. It was difficult for children to stand outside the cages too, and the presence of the rats, coupled with the odor, made it difficult for anyone to stand there long enough to catch a glimpse of any non-rodent animals. “The rats are in the deer, pigeon, ostrich and duck cages, but no one in the administration was ready to do anything about it,” the visitor added. The entry fee for the North Karachi Mini Zoo is Rs20 per person. The zoo was inaugurated in Sector 11-B by then Sindh governor Dr Ishrat ul Ebad Khan. It was established in May 2012 on three acres of land.
