Opposing the slaughter of cows in the Indian state of Assam, several Hindu activists protested against serving beef as part of a diet to tigers and other big cats in the state zoo located in Guwahati, this week.
On Monday, a group of protestors claiming to be “anti-beef activists”, attempted to block vehicles carrying meat items meant for the big cats housed in the zoo. The group led by Assam Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Satya Ranjan Borah blocked the roads leading to the zoo for several hours before allowing authorities to take the food inside.
“The vehicles carrying meat for the zoo inmates were stopped briefly by some miscreants. We had to call the police to disperse them. There’s no issue regarding the supply of meat to the animals now,” said Tejas Mariswamy, divisional forest officer (DFO), Assam state zoo, according to an Indian news report.
The BJP leader proposed feeding the big cats of the Guwhati zoo, meat of sambar deer present in the forest reserve around the zoo, instead of the staple beef.
According to Indian news reports, citing the growth of the reserve’s sambar deer population, he said that the zoo would achieve self-sufficiency if the Sambar deer meat is used to feed the carnivores.
A protected species under Schedule-III of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the Sambar deer is also listed as a 'vulnerable' species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red list, since 2008, due to incessant hunting and habitat destruction.
“We talk about the protection of the cow, but the animal is killed to feed the zoo carnivores. Beef is supplied under a system, and the government is a part of it. But, why is only beef when we can give them the meat of sambar deer…?” Borah added.
Twitter users reacted to the BJP leader’s comments.
Referring to India’s beef ban, @Lesous17 posted: “No beef for humans, I agree, but tigers need beef. The BJP needs some more educated people who could understand that tigers are wild animals. We, humans, have no right to keep them in zoos. If we do… then we have to give them all types of meat. Tigers are top of the food chain.”
Finding the argument hilarious, @bharatnag1 wrote: “Next time, they should take the hungry tiger to the market for beef shopping. It will take care of the activists.”
Spread over 175 hectares in the middle of Guwahati’s Hengrabari reserve forest, the Assam state zoo is the biggest in Northeast India, with 1,040 wild animals and birds of 112 species.
At present, the zoo has eight tigers, three lions, 26 leopards, and other small cats like leopard cats and jungle cats.
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