Crocodile hurt as visitors to Chennai zoo pelt stones

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The unruly behaviour of visitors, who often throw stones at wild animals at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur in Chennai, has cost a crocodile its upper jaw.

The 10-foot endangered Nile crocodile has lost a part of its jaw and is now under treatment, zoo sources said.

“I visited the zoo last week and was shocked to see the sorry state of the crocodile. Initially I thought the animal was dead as it was motionless and the water was contaminated,” said Mr V.J. Solomon who visited the zoo last Saturday.

“Teasing animals has always been an issue and some visitors throw stones, scream at them and throw plastic in to the enclosures. There have been several incidents when visitors have been warned and fined for teasing animals. But unless public behaviour changes we cannot succeed in ex-situ conservation measures,” said a senior forest official.

Under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 (Sec 38 J - prohibition of teasing wild animals), miscreants can be fined on the spot or can be imprisoned for six months, the official said, adding that majority of those who visited the zoo were gentle and were concerned about animals, but incidents of animal teasing and rare cases of injuring them also did occur.

Expressing concern about public behaviour, the zoo’s director and chief conservator of forests K.S.S.V.P. Reddy said that the crocodile had been in the zoo for the last 10 years and had been alone since its male mate had died five years ago.