Overcrowding, inbreeding pose threat to Safari animals.

Byline: Faiza Ilyas

KARACHI -- The latest arrival in the chital herd at the Safari Park is just five days old now. Being the youngest amongst 60 adult deer, the little fawn presents a very positive picture of what could be seen as a thriving herd at the facility.

Hidden from visitors, however, are the challenges Safari staff face every day.

'We face multiple challenges; one of which is their management [which is] becoming increasingly difficult as their number is growing. They have been housed in the same enclosure since the 1990s when a group of chital was brought here along with black bucks, mouflon, red and white deer and nilgai,' explained Dr Kazim Hussain, the only veterinary doctor at the Safari Park housing a large number of ungulates.

Most animals arrived at the Safari during more or less the same period. There have been few inductions since then. The facility currently houses 25 male and around 23 female chital against the recommended ratio of one male for three females or one male for five females.

This imbalance in male-female ratio, according to the staff, is also affecting breeding. The same is the case with black bucks whose number has also grown to 60.

'Though chital is less aggressive than other deer species, for instance, white deer and fallow deer, their increasing number at the Safari is increasingly leading to mutual fights.

'They have no specific breeding season. Many of them mate at the same time, reducing chances of successful conception,' said Dr Hussain.

According to him, the facility desperately needs fresh blood through an animal exchange or induction of new animals to counter negative impacts of inbreeding, for instance, high mortality in young ones, reduced birth, vulnerability to diseases and deformities.

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