{"id":20351,"date":"2023-04-23T03:33:51","date_gmt":"2023-04-23T03:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/elephant-in-pakistan-zoo\/"},"modified":"2023-04-23T03:34:35","modified_gmt":"2023-04-23T03:34:35","slug":"elephant-in-pakistan-zoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/elephant-in-pakistan-zoo\/","title":{"rendered":"Elephant in Pakistan zoo dies, reviving concern over animal treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) -Noor Jehan, an elephant in Pakistan&#8217;s Karachi Zoo whose illness revived criticisms of the nation&#8217;s zoos, died on Saturday despite frantic efforts to treat her, officials said. <\/p>\n<p>The critically ill 17-year-old elephant had fallen into a pond this month and been unable to get up without help.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;After fighting for 9 days, she succumbed to her critical condition. She spent too long lying on the ground \u2013 a life-threatening situation for elephants,&#8221; Four Paws, an international animal welfare organisation that had been advising local and international veterinarians on her treatment, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Four Paws veterinarian Amir Khalil said it was &#8220;heartbreaking that she had to die at only 17 years old, when she could have had many more years&#8221;. Noor Jehan was an African elephant, whose average lifespan is 60 to 70 years.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years two lions died of asphyxiation in Pakistan after handlers tried to get them out of their den using smoke, and a number of white tiger cubs have died.<\/p>\n<p>The director of the Karachi Zoo was removed this month over complaints of negligence. A court in 2020 ordered the closure of the Islamabad Zoo, where the elephant Kaavan was kept.<\/p>\n<p>The American celebrity Cher, after years of seeking to free Kaavan, came to Pakistan to see him off on his move to a Cambodian sanctuary.<\/p>\n<p>Khalil said Karachi Zoo did not meet international standards and urged that Madhubala, the healthy elephant remaining at the zoo, be relocated to a more species-appropriate place to give her a chance at a better life.<\/p>\n<p>Four Paws said Madhubala was mourning the loss of her longtime companion. <\/p>\n<p>The widespread criticism faced by authorities in the wake of Noor Jehan&#8217;s condition &#8211; with images of her helplessly lying on her side &#8211; has led to reports in the local media that Karachi Zoo may be shut down permanently. <\/p>\n<p>Four Paws said it welcomed this proposal, adding that it could be a turning point for the welfare of wild animals in captivity in Pakistan. <\/p>\n<p> (Reporting by Islamabad bureau; Writing by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Willaim Mallard)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/elephant-in-pakistan-zoo\/african-elephant-noor-jahan-rests-on-a-sand-pile-at-2\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-content\/uploads\/Reuters_Direct_Media\/USOnlineReportTopNews\/tagreuters.com2023binary_LYNXNPEJ3M007-VIEWIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2023binary_LYNXNPEJ3M007-VIEWIMAGE\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) -Noor Jehan, an elephant in Pakistan&#8217;s Karachi Zoo whose illness revived criticisms of the nation&#8217;s zoos, died on Saturday despite frantic efforts to treat her, officials said. The critically ill 17-year-old elephant had fallen into a pond this month and been unable to get up without help. &#8220;After fighting for 9 days, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":20354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1222],"tags":[1223],"class_list":["post-20351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-world-news","tag-updated"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-content\/uploads\/Reuters_Direct_Media\/USOnlineReportTopNews\/tagreuters.com2023binary_LYNXNPEJ3M007-VIEWIMAGE.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20351"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20375,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20351\/revisions\/20375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}