ISLAMABAD: On a late August evening, rescue workers waded through waist-deep floodwaters of the Ravi River to reach an abandoned farmhouse in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Inside, six lions were found pacing in panic, their cages half-submerged. All were saved in time, though conservationists and activists say many more animals have drowned in silence.
Pakistan has been reeling from heavy monsoon rains since late July, with the crisis deepening toward the end of August when downpours coincided with water releases from dams in upstream India. For the first time in four decades, the Ravi, Chenab and Sutlej rivers all flooded simultaneously, inundating thousands of settlements and more than a million acres of farmland, destroying crops and sweeping away livestock.
Amid the national struggle to cope with the disaster, little attention has been paid to exotic animals like lions and tigers kept in private collections, makeshift zoos and even backyards. Many were left to drown, starve or wander into unfamiliar terrain.
“I cannot think of a crueler death than to be locked in a cage with water rising,” said journalist and animal rights defender Quatrina Hosein. “Owners who abandoned these animals must be held criminally responsible.”
