Amid Slaughterhouse Crackdown, India’s Lions Sample New Cuisine
But eight Asiatic lions reigning over the southern corner of the zoo in Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, have felt the effects, too, as the new Hindu-right government has begun closing numerous slaughterhouses
that hard-liners have long suspected of concealing the illegal slaughter of cows, which are worshiped by Hindus.
By AYESHA VENKATARAMANMARCH 24, 2017
MUMBAI — When the newly elected government of India’s most populous state began shutting down parts of the buffalo meat industry this week, the effects reverberated far and wide,
but most immediately in the lions’ area at a city zoo.
Twice this week, the lions’ daily ration of 22 pounds of water buffalo meat each failed to arrive, forcing them to survive on a leaner fare of chicken
and mutton, said the director of the Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Garden, Anupam Gupta.
Besides the lions, 27 other carnivorous animals at the Lucknow zoo, including tigers, leopards, hyenas, jackals
and wolves, have also faced a dietary challenge this past week, Mr. Gupta said.
In the long run, those likely to be hit the hardest were the predominantly Muslim owners
and employees in the slaughterhouse industry in Uttar Pradesh state, which in recent years has made India the world’s largest exporter of meat.
But all of their regular diets of water buffalo were restored by Friday, when zoo officials located a slaughterhouse in the nearby Unnao district
that agreed to provide the daily requirement of 485 pounds of buffalo meat, he said.
But eight Asiatic lions reigning over the southern corner of the zoo in Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh, have felt the effects, too, as the new Hindu-right government has begun closing numerous slaughterhouses
that hard-liners have long suspected of concealing the illegal slaughter of cows, which are worshiped by Hindus.
By AYESHA VENKATARAMANMARCH 24, 2017
MUMBAI — When the newly elected government of India’s most populous state began shutting down parts of the buffalo meat industry this week, the effects reverberated far and wide,
but most immediately in the lions’ area at a city zoo.
Twice this week, the lions’ daily ration of 22 pounds of water buffalo meat each failed to arrive, forcing them to survive on a leaner fare of chicken
and mutton, said the director of the Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Garden, Anupam Gupta.
Besides the lions, 27 other carnivorous animals at the Lucknow zoo, including tigers, leopards, hyenas, jackals
and wolves, have also faced a dietary challenge this past week, Mr. Gupta said.
In the long run, those likely to be hit the hardest were the predominantly Muslim owners
and employees in the slaughterhouse industry in Uttar Pradesh state, which in recent years has made India the world’s largest exporter of meat.
But all of their regular diets of water buffalo were restored by Friday, when zoo officials located a slaughterhouse in the nearby Unnao district
that agreed to provide the daily requirement of 485 pounds of buffalo meat, he said.
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