A disturbing video of a weak lion in the Karachi Zoo uploaded on social media has gone viral, prompting the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation to issue a statement on Tuesday that all animals at the zoo are being given a proper diet. 

Explained: Will elephant collaring minimise man-animal conflict in Assam?

According to Geo TV, the zoo’s food supply had been cut off on Monday, with the supplier alleging that he had not been paid for months. “The administration hasn’t paid since February 2021,” the contractor, Amjad Mehboob, said.

Mehboob later stated the issue had been resolved with the Karachi municipal authority and food supply to the zoo had resumed. He has been given an assurance that all pending payments will be made by December. The zoo falls under the administrative control of the Karachi Municipal Corporation.

Meet Suyash Keshari, a 25-year old filmmaker who quit his job in US to save wildlife

The matter was brought to light by Quatrina Hosain, a journalist, who recorded videos of a lion in terrible health at the zoo. A clip shows a drowsy lion slumped inside his cage.

Uploading the video on her Twitter account, Hosain wrote, “We have no right to zoos if this is how we treat animals….Karachi Zoo fails to pay food suppliers….The animals are already in awful shape. My heart is breaking. Let’s shut down all zoos @murtazawahab1”

The visuals sparked a conversation between the public and the authorities with several visitors sharing images of a tiger from their visit to the zoo. Hosain’s post was shared by over 1,300 people with several others liking and commenting.

Orphaned baby elephant’s ‘iron-clad will’ leaves people in awe. Watch

Karachi Municipal Corporation spokesperson Ali Hasan Sajid told local news channel Dawn the images doing the rounds on social media were outdated. He went on to say the visuals were being used to “spread propaganda against the zoo”.

A similar stance was taken by the senior director of the zoo. Khalid Hashmi, labelled the reports as fabricated. However, these claims were challenged by Hosain, who called out the authorities for deliberately not including the African lion in their video of the zoo.