It may be unofficial, but that does not make it any less painful. Shiva the Indian one horn rhino, member of a desperately endangered species (see box), will go to his grave without every having been mated. He is 35 years old, long past his peak breeding years, and all alone in the Jijamata Zoo at Byculla. And now doctors have declared that it is really not practical to think about transporting him elsewhere to a mate. For one thing, he might not survive the journey. For another, he is just too old.
Shiva’s state is the result of the combined lack of will on the part of the state government and the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), as well as the absurd depths to which jingoism, this time in the name of Marathi pride, can go.
This is the same CZA who announces that the breeding and maintenance of captive animals is near the top of its list of priorities. Meanwhile, the Jijamata Zoo authorities say no less than 76 attempts were made to arrange a mate for Shiva, either by sending a female rhino to Mumbai or transporting Shiva to a zoo in another state. On one occasion, everything was arranged, but the Shiv Sena stepped in and stopped the lorry that was to carry Shiva to the Patna Zoo. The female should be sent here, the party declared.
Today, poor Shiva, old and having lost any sexual urges he might have had, hides under the scummy green water in his tank, trying to protect himself from bird attacks! The tragedy is, the story could have been so different.
Local people and visitors who know Shiva’s fateful story of loneliness and frustration, are bitterly critical of the civic body and curse it for its decision to bring a single male rhino to Mumbai from Assam in 1985. The very least they should have done is bring in two, they assert. This is Shiva’s story.
On March 4, 1985, the civic body procured a male rhino from Assam state. Later, this young animal was named Shiva after Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Three months after his arrival in the Byculla zoo, civic authorities started the process of procuring a ‘Parvati’ for lonely Shiva. On June 15, 1985, the first letter was sent to the Chief Conservator of Forests in Assam, requesting them to spare a female rhino for Shiva. At that time hopes were high, for there was no seeming shortage in that state.
Meanwhile, Shiva was a friendly and lovely figure in the zoo. His keepers, medical staff and cleaners had free access to his cage. They fed him in the open and cleaned him. Then Shiva the adolescent started growing up. All this time, there was no reply from Assam.
One fine morning in 1988, the regular keeper was feeding Shiva. In a sudden, horrifying attack, fuelled probably by raging hormones, Shiva killed keeper in the cage. Consequently, the authorities began to take a more serious note of the need to find the rhino a mate and correspondence was started at no less a level than that of Chief Secretary.
In 1998, the late Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray, who was known to have a soft corner for the animalwho was, after all, named after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, asked then Chief Minister Manohar Joshi to look into the matter. Joshi requested his counterpart in Assam to spare a female rhino for Shiva. The reigning governor also interfered to speed up the matter. The issue was being dealt with on a war footing, everyone was sanguine that in the next days or weeks or months, ‘Parvati’ would indeed come to Byculla. Unfortunately, all the female rhinos in Assam were in a relationship and there were no spares! Our Shiva just got angrier and angrier.
In 1995, a visitor jumped down into his cage to retrieve his shoe. A frustrated Shiva kicked and dragged him. There was no injury mark on the visitor’s body when it was retrieved from the cage.
In 2005, there was a plan to shift Shiva to the Patna Zoo which had a spare female rhino. However, the Shiv Sena protested against the decision to sent him outside.
Two years later, in 2007, the lonely and painful life of Shiva even caught the imagination of Bombay High Court which directed that the animal be sent to the Patna zoo. At the time, Shiva was still young and doctors believed that he was capable of reproduction.
Mindful of the court directive, the zoo authority made transport arrangements and packed sugarcane, carrots and sweet potato, his favourites. Shiva was loaded onto the lorry and driver was just about to start the vehicle. This time it was the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, at the peak of its popularity, that protested in front of the vehicles and stopped the cortege.
The MNS said Shiva would not go there as he was a symbol of the state pride. Bihar would have to send its rhino to Maharashtra. The next year another attempt was made to bring Shiva his Parvati, again from the Patna Zoo. This time it was the turn of the latter to refuse, citing the authorities poor track record in looking after animals at the Byculla Zoo.
By now, Shiva was getting older and doctors were doubtful about his reproduction capacity. The civic authorities, on instructions from the CZA, started an international hunt for a female rhino.
In Thailand, one female rhino was spare and the civic body made up its mind to send Shiva all the way there to have a taste of the good life. Thailand’s Zoological Park Organisation expressed its interest in exchanging other interesting animals for Shiva, such as a pair of chimpanzees, a pair of orangutans, and five baboons, two male, three female. Up came yet another obstacle in the rhino’s star-crossed existence. The CZA, which was initially willing to give permission to send Shiva abroad, suddenly expressed doubt and the last chance was missed.
Shiva is still lonely. His story and his line will end with his life. Dr Sanjay A Tripathi, who has been taking care of Shiva for decades, says “He has his regular diet and is alright. Of course, old age matters.”
Saddest of all, this one-horned rhino has an injury on the protuberance that is the root cause for the killing of his species. And his injured horn is not healing.