From Magnus Eze, Enugu
Animals in the Imo State Zoological Garden and Wildlife Park located at Nekede in Owerri West Local Government Area of the state are oblivious of the danger said to be lurking around them following recent allegation that they may be wiped away by hunger.
Nigerians were jolted recently by the allegation that no fewer than 250 animals valued at over N38 million have died of starvation in the zoo.
It was also alleged that the remaining animals were “almost dying due to hunger,” and the subvention from the state government was either not enough to sustain them or had since stopped coming.
Daily Sun gathered that it costs the wildlife park an average of N1.2 million to feed about 500 animals there every month.
The unnamed source that raised the alarm had warned that “if urgent steps are not taken, the zoo established since 1976 may face extinction.”
It was also gathered that managers of the zoo were handicapped as they could no longer generate revenue to feed the animals due to low patronage of the park by tourists due to the collapse of the roads leading to the zoo from the Owerri capital city.
The issue was further exacerbated by the publication on the front page of one of the national newspapers (not Daily Sun) on November 15, 2021, of a disturbing photograph of an extremely malnourished animal purported to be “one of the endangered lions in Imo State Zoological Gardens and Wildlife Park, Nekede”.
The unpleasant stories about the zoo prompted Daily Sun’s visit to the facility to get firsthand information.
Surprisingly, at the zoo, the hyenas were found laughing, while the lions roared, growled and snarled. At the ostrich section, noises of boom and hiss rented the air as the birds paraded with elegance.
Though many of the animals lived their normal lives and the authorities were upbeat that things would soon get jazzy at the zoo, but the ambience at the place was that of a facility struggling to survive.
Principal curator and acting General Manager, Nkeiru Onyeaguocha, disclosed that the three lions in the place were still intact and faced no form of harm. In fact, to justify her claim, in our presence, the animals were fed with a live goat and a pig. Two of them were released to their arena after the pig was killed and the body sheared into two for them. In a matter of minutes, they devoured their meal.
However, Daily Sun learnt that activities at the zoo and wildlife park had actually dropped following the collapse of the only access road to the place.
Onyeaguocha said the recent caving in of the Nekede Zoo road has drastically reduced the number of visitors to the facility. The wild lifer who has worked in the facility since 1992 urged government to come to their aid.
She also urged that more animals like elephant be introduced in the zoo as according to her, many visitors would throng the place just to see an elephant.
“The bad road is the only challenge we have right now because with the state of the road, the revenue generation has been drastically reduced. So, if the government could help fix the road, the revenue from here will surely shore up.
“Presently, we have three lions, hyenas, pythons, tortoise and crocodiles. We also have some birds like the eagle.
“Things have actually dwindled here compared to the situation about 20 years ago. When I came here, we had more animals and the place was booming. We have never had elephant, so we need elephant to attract more visitors,” she said.
Asked if she was not bothered that some animals were going into extinction, Onyeaguocha explained that the essence of zoo world over was to preserve animals from going into extinction.
She said that there was no extinction of animals in the zoo, instead, national parks ensure that animals going into extinction were brought to the zoo for preservation and procreation.
Some visitor who struggled to get to the zoo also appealed to government to pay serious attention to the place.
One of them, Chigozie Nnadi, who was part of a contingent from a school on excursion at the zoo said the children were excited about the animals there but many of them were disappointed that “we didn’t see the almighty elephant. You know elephant is one animal that every child loves to behold.”
But the state government has assured of its readiness to make the zoo, which is the only such facility in the South East, a tourism hub and revenue earner.
Commissioner for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Dr. Uche Ohia, described it as a major tourism asset and investment of the Imo State Government and a revenue generating facility.
He wondered why anyone would want to demarket the zoo when the government was on the verge of revamping the place, citing a ministerial panel of inquiry and some Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) being worked out.
Regarding the purported photograph of a starving lion in the zoo, Ohia said from their investigations, the said animal was an unfortunate lion alleged to have died in Gamji Gate Zoo, Kaduna around March 2021.
According to him, the story of that lion and the offensive photograph of an extremely emaciated animal was widely published in March 2021 in several media, and could not have emanated from Imo State Zoo in November.
Daily Sun investigation revealed that the then starving lion in Kaduna zoo was trapped for five days after a heavy flood ravaged the zoo, affecting chiefly cats and paddocks, before it was eventually rescued by a wildlife charity, Wildlife @ Life e.V, in conjunction with the Nigerian Association of Wildlife Parks (NAZAP).
Photograph of the severely malnourished lion had gone viral on the social media after a visitor made a post on it, although it was reported to have died afterwards following some health complications.
Narrating what he called the true story, Ohia said: “We were at Ado Ekiti for the arts festival when suddenly one of the national dailies published photograph of a malnourished lion and it was amazing. My first reaction was this can’t be possible. So, we put a mechanism in place and quickly set up a panel to investigate what was happening in the Imo State Zoo and Wildlife Park. As we returned from Ado Ekiti, I quickly went to the zoo but to my greatest surprise; it was discovered that the photograph published by the said newspaper had nothing to do with Imo State; one, it was not taken in Imo State, two, it wasn’t a lion in Imo State. On further investigation, it was discovered that the photograph of that lion had been in circulation in the past and was said to be a lion that died in Kaduna in March, 2021.
“So, the situation in Imo State Zoo is that we don’t have any starving lion; we have three lions. In fact, one of our lions gave birth in captivity. If a wild animal is starving, how can it give birth in captivity? Our hyenas gave birth in captivity; our ostriches lay eggs. These are things happening and couldn’t have been possible if they are underfed or malnourished. A visitor will see that what we have are active lions that are groping around and could easily attack and devour their prey at any time.
“Beyond that, we are also not unmindful of public assistance to take care of the wildlife because we have a big zoo made up of over 500 animals not inclusive of the domestic animals there. In fact, on the day that unfortunate publication was made, I saw from records that we had at least 28 goats. How can a lion starve when the zoo authorities had 28 goats; goats are not part of the zoo animals as they are strictly for the feeding of the carnivorous animals.”
On the efforts by government to put the place to maximum use, the commissioner said: “We are preparing for the usual annual zoo fiesta when children, parents and young people troop to the zoo to look at what we have. We are looking to bring in more animals, bring in an elephant.
“That zoo is the only surviving one in the Southeast, so it’s so dear to us because we don’t want people to come all the way from Abia State to be told that anything happened to the animals or that the animals are starving. And we have people coming from all the states of the Southeast to the zoo without notice. We’ve also launched awareness campaign; we will be launching all these things in a vacuum?
“So, the tourism ministry sees the zoo as a flagship project as a billion naira project. And in this era of diversification, we are also looking at it as a revenue earner. Our plan in the long term is to ensure that the zoo is not only self-sustaining but that it is also able to contribute meaningfully to public revenues. Not just having government fund the zoo. No, it has to fund the government.”
Meanwhile, the government set up a ministerial panel of inquiry into the affairs of Imo Zoo and Wildlife Park, Nekede, on November 16 and mandated it to submit its report within two weeks.
The five-man panel with Director of Administration and Finance in the ministry, James Nduji, as Chairman and Ojiaka Obinna as its secretary, has Ejiofor Chidimma, Oham Ngozi and T.U. Okoro as members.
Its terms of reference were to investigate the “reported neglect and malnutrition of lions and/or any other animals in the zoo, adherence or otherwise to the administrative structure and procedures in the management of the Zoo, animal population analysis from March 2021, to date, post mortem report of all animal casualties in the Zoo from March 2021, to date, income and expenditure from March 2021, to date and to make recommendations based on its findings.”
As part of the ongoing reorganization of the zoo, the Principal Conservation Officer and General Manager, Francis Abioye, has been sent on compulsory leave.
Daily Sun further gathered that the current furore over the Imo Zoo might not be unconnected with the government’s decision on Abioye, who is currently the National President of Nigerian Association of Zoological Gardens and Wildlife Parks (NAZAP).
An unmentioned source alleged that the embattled General Manager, who had held sway in the facility for over 15 years having observed his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) there and was retained afterwards, may have instigated some of the unsavory actions in his bid to wriggle of the situation.
The Imo zoo and wildlife park had suffered years of neglect. In fact, Abioye had in 2019 said the general system failure in wildlife conservation was regrettable and urged governments to improve in the care of animals kept in captivity, especially the endangered species.
“No government in the world can care for its citizens without starting with animals. The way we care for the animals will influence the way we care for citizens,” he said.
But Emeka Ihedioha, during his brief stint as governor of the state had ordered for the renovation of the zoo after realising its potentials. The administration of his predecessor, Rochas Okorocha, had allegedly abandoned the place.
Special Adviser to Ihedioha, Steve Osuji, had in a statement in July 2019, said: “It’s the only zoo south of the Niger but it’s in utter dereliction. The erstwhile administration didn’t understand its essence.
“It is among the first places visited by Ihedioha upon resumption of office. The governor, having noticed the burgeoning tourism potentials of Owerri made the zoo revamp a priority. Owerri lacks family resort or Fun Park.”
Ihedioha had released some funds to Abioye and charged him to turn the zoo into a profit-making venture.