Wild animals behind bars in Nepal’s community forests

JHAPA, NEPAL, July 21: Two pythons curled up in the corner of an enclosure have piqued the curiosity of two brothers. Anil Thapa, 11, pushes apart the mesh of the cage while Anish, 4, throws a pebble through the opening at the snakes. The stone hits its target. The snake stirs, causing the boys to back away in fear, shouting: “It’s going to bite!”

The brothers are at a small zoo in Jamunkhadi Community Forest in eastern Nepal. The former sanctuary is full of wild animals that once lived in the forest and were moved here because they were injured. Now they are on display.

Small zoos have sprung up in community forests across Nepal since the government legalized them in 2017. But the animals are often housed in inadequate cages, poorly fed and managed by untrained staff, conservationists say. The zoos are popular field trips for schoolchildren, raising concerns among teachers and parents that children are getting incorrect messages about how to treat wild animals. They say that if such community zoos are to be effective learning centers, they must have signage about the animals and set up habitats that are appropriate for each species.

“If they really want to build a learning center, they should build cages that are suitable for wild animals,” says Rajan Sigdel, principal of Pathibhara English Boarding School, during a visit to the school’s 150 students at the community zoo in Jamunkhadi. Some children compare themselves to the animals and feel sad to see them in small cages, he says. “Keeping wild animals in cramped and smelly cages can have a negative impact on the brains of children.”

He points to four Himalayan vultures sharing a cage. One has a swollen leg. In the wild, the animals usually nest alone or in small colonies scattered on steep cliffs — off the ground, without natural features.

Forest department officials say a number of animals have died recently at community zoos in eastern Nepal because workers lack the technical knowledge to handle the animals. But the department does not keep official death counts because the centers are outside its jurisdiction and are run by community forest groups, said Anjana Puri, information officer at the divisional forest office in Jhapa.

In 2022, two pythons died due to heat exposure at the Kalika Community Forest zoo in Mechinagar, said Rajan Rai, forest ranger with the forest consumer commission.

“Pythons need a soil floor. But we made a cage with concrete floors, so they died from the heat,” he says.

In 2019, a python also died at the Jamunkhadi zoo, said Khyam Raj Sitaula, former chairman of the Jamunkhadi Wetland and Tourist Area Development Committee, which oversees operations.

Victims at the Bansbari Community Forest zoo include four deer, a dozen lovebirds and an ostrich since 2020, said Bed Prakash Bhandari, Jhapa representative at the Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal. Some were killed by other animals due to improper housing.

“The state of (community forest) zoos in Nepal is pathetic. Wild animals kept there need to be rescued immediately,” said Ambika Prasad Khatiwada, spokesperson for the National Trust for Nature Conservation.

An ecotourism attraction

The small zoos are located in Nepal’s famous community forests, which are managed entirely by local communities in a model of decentralized conservation. Until 2017, community forest groups were not allowed to set up zoos, although 17 of them, including Jamunkhadi, operated sanctuaries for injured wildlife. Until recently, the only official zoo in Nepal was the Central Zoo in Lalitpur.

That changed in 2017, when the Nepalese government amended the Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1973 to allow community forest groups to display wildlife as an ecotourism venture. The government also implemented these reforms in the new Forest Act of 2019. Since then, about 50 community zoos have been established, says Thakur Bhandari, chairman of the Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal.

At Jamunkhadi, the animals include those already in the sanctuary — injured, old, or otherwise unlikely to survive in the wild — as well as troublemakers captured from the forest. They also get healthy animals.

Visitors pay up to 100 Nepalese rupees (US$0.75) for entrance, and the proceeds go toward running the park, Sitaula says.

During a visit earlier this year, children crowd the community zoo in Jamunkhadi, the largest in Koshi province. It is home to 28 species, including reptiles, birds and mammals. Nine of the animals are globally endangered, while 15 are endangered in Nepal, according to a 2022 study.

Animals are housed in small cages with no habitat that mimics their wild home. Floors are cement or poor soil. Sides are wire. Many enclosures have no species designation, and the few that do have no other information about the animals on display.

Still, Sitaula says the exhibition will help children learn about animals they would otherwise only read about in books.

A real house?

In 2023, the province and Jamunkhadi Community Forest invested more than Rs 20 million ($150,000) to replace wooden and bamboo cages with concrete and wire fencing, creating a modern sanctuary, Sitaula said. The animals are properly housed and cared for, he added.

Other conservationists disagree. While centers that house rare species can be useful for education and research if they are well-managed, most community zoos are in a neglected state, says Rachana Sah, project manager of the Biodiversity Conservation Centre at the Kathmandu-based National Trust for Nature Conservation.

Mukesh Kumar Chalise, a zoologist who formerly taught at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, says community forests need to create habitats for their caged animals that meet the species’ needs and allow the animals to breed.

As it stands, Tapil Prakash Rai, a professor of forestry at Tribhuvan University’s affiliate in Jhapa, says the animals are sometimes mislabeled. He recently corrected a misidentified turtle in Jamunkhadi.

“When wrong information is presented about animals, children learn wrongly,” he says. “It is necessary to keep the information about wild animals correct by involving experts in such sanctuaries.”

Learning their lessons

Children need to see animals in their own habitat so that they can learn, says Rajkumar BK, head of the Education Development and Coordination Department in Jhapa.

Signs should indicate the animals’ original habitats and habitats, and how they came to be in the zoo, he says. The language should be understandable to children, he adds.

This story was originally published by Global Press Journal.