When chicken was taken off from zoo animals’ menu

Ranchi: For the zookeepers, chicken is the favourite meat while feeding the carnivores. Its alternative, mutton, is an expensive affair and after an avian flu outbreak, the zookeepers usually keep their hands off from chicken for at least two months.
In January 2021, the authorities of the Birsa Munda Zoological Park here decided to stop feeding poultry to its lions, tigers, leopards, sloth bear, eagles and vultures. That decision came as a boon for these zoo inmates as they gorge on mutton.
At that time, the zoo’s director told TOI, “Feeding mutton will be an expensive affair but we will manage. There is no evidence to support that carnivores can get infected after consuming the flesh of a dead bird infected with avian influenza. But the zookeepers will be at high risk if we continue feeding poultry.”
On average, the park authorities buy nearly 95kg of poultry chicken to feed its carnivores. “However, we will now buy only mutton, which will be boiled to soften the meat before feeding the animals,” the director had said.