Smog puts Lahore Zoo animals at risk, veterinary officer warns
Lahore's senior zoo veterinarian says fine particles can reach animals' lungs, as the city's air quality index reached 263 this week.
Lahore Zoo's animals face respiratory risk from the city's smog, its senior veterinary officer said, as air quality in Lahore stayed in the "very unhealthy" range this week.
Dr Muhammad Azhar, senior veterinary officer at Lahore Zoo, said fine particles in smog can reach animals' lungs and cause respiratory illness, while ozone and toxic gases can inflame their airways. Prolonged exposure to polluted air could affect the health and natural lifespan of animals and birds and their ability to reproduce, he said, according to a report carried by UrduPoint.
No official confirmation of an outbreak of any specific disease or epidemic among the zoo's animals has been issued, UrduPoint reported. Signs of illness, respiratory problems and seasonal effects have brought veterinary supervision, early diagnosis and treatment arrangements into focus.
Lahore Zoo Deputy Director Shahzaib Khurshid said animals at zoos and safari parks are vaccinated regularly and given food and care suited to the season and temperature. The Wildlife Department has introduced facilities for diagnosing and treating captive wild animals, he said. This year a portable X-ray machine was used inside enclosures to examine a deer and a dragon, UrduPoint reported, which reduces the stress and medical complications of moving an animal to a hospital.
Questions remain over daily medical checks for every animal at the zoo, timely diagnosis, the isolation of sick animals and their treatment.
Arab News reported that Lahore topped IQAir's ranking of the world's most polluted major cities for a second day on Tuesday with an air quality index of 263, after a reading above 600 a day earlier.
Prof Dr Abdul Qadir of the University of Punjab told Arab News that fossil fuel burning, including coal, diesel and petrol, is the basic cause. He said smog has grown gradually since 2015, with the highest level in 2024, and called for a mass transit system running on clean energy and a complete ban on solid-waste and stubble burning. Dr Mohammad Irfan Malik, professor of pulmonary critical care and sleep medicine at the University of Lahore, told Arab News his clinic had recorded a significant surge in outpatient visits and indoor admissions, including patients needing intensive care.
Abdullah Nayyar, director-general of Punjab's Environmental Protection Agency, told Arab News the number of air-quality monitoring stations in the province had risen from two to about 81. He said verified stubble-burning cases stood at more than 320 this season, a 35 percent decline from the same period last year. Arab News also reported that Pakistan blamed this week's poor air quality on pollution drifting from neighbouring India after firecrackers were set off during Diwali.
How the reports differ
UrduPoint's report stayed on the zoo itself, quoting Lahore Zoo's senior veterinary officer on how smog particles and toxic gases damage animals' lungs and airways, and describing the portable X-ray used inside enclosures on a deer and a dragon. Arab News did not cover the zoo, leading instead on the citywide smog crisis, with Lahore's AQI of 263 on Tuesday and above 600 a day earlier. Only Arab News carried interviews with a University of Punjab environmental scientist, a University of Lahore pulmonologist and Punjab EPA Director-General Abdullah Nayyar, with his figures on monitoring stations rising from two to about 81 and stubble-burning cases falling 35 percent. Arab News alone reported the government's attribution of this week's pollution to smoke drifting from India after Diwali firecrackers.
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