5 ostriches die mysteriously at Chennai Zoo; officials await test reports

Chennai: Zoo officials at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park (AAZP) near Chennai are monitoring their captive birds after five ostriches died on Wednesday (October 27) and a couple of ostriches are not keeping well.

Zoo officials maintain that the “five ostriches died all of a sudden on 27th October”. The zoo had been home to 32 ostriches, of which 5 have succumbed to what is until now, an unknown illness.

According to the Zoo Director, in-house vets and teams from the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) were present during the postmortem of the birds and had also provided treatment to the remaining ostriches, in order to prevent the spread of the disease. Examination of bacteriology, virology and toxicology samples are also being carried out.

Officials have ruled out the possibility of a fowl cholera infection, based on the blood smear and organ impression procedures carried out on Wednesday. Other birds are under surveillance and are being continuously monitored, officials added.

A lioness, aged 19, had died in the Zoo owing to old-age issues on Tuesday, following which officials conducted a postmortem.

AAZP, which is locally known as the Vandalur Zoo, houses 2400 animals that span across 180 species, thus making it among the largest zoos in India.

Earlier this year, the zoo was talked about for a COVID-19 outbreak in the captive Asiatic lions. 10 of the zoos 15 Asiatic lions had tested positive for the COVID-19 delta variant, at a time when India was reeling under the severe second wave of the pandemic. While the zoo lost 2 lions (a male and a female) to the pandemic, they had successfully treated and revived the 13 others.