On the night of February 8, a fertilised ostrich egg vanished from the Karachi Zoo. It was a mystery who it could be. That the theft was masterminded by someone, was apparent from the investigation, but who? The animal keepers at the zoo are ignorant people who know some basics about the care of creatures in their charge. The senior staff has the zoological know-how.
Currently, the zoo has one pair and a lone female ostrich. Both females lay eggs but for a long time there were no fertilised eggs. A white-colour fertilised egg is easily distinguished from the yellowish unfertilised egg. Then recently there were four white eggs in the ostrich cage.
Unknown to the keepers a round-the-clock watch was being kept because exotic eggs always attract thieves. We know this happens at the coast from where turtle eggs of the endangered Green Turtle are stolen and sold as hen's eggs. The theft was planned for Saturday night because the senior staff takes Sunday off. The thief who took the egg thought he was being smart as he had replaced the stolen egg with an unfertilised one. He probably thought that at a glance an inspector would not detect the theft. Four eggs were there. He obviously did not know the colour of the egg would be easily detected.
On Sunday all the keepers on duty on the day of the theft were interrogated. The missing egg was recovered after one of the keepers admitted he had taken it and replaced it with an unfertilised egg. He also said he hides the fertilised egg in the birdcage and that he had done this on the instruction of the in-charge of the ostrich cage. It appears the plan was to take away the egg on Sunday early morning when there are no visitors or senior staff around.
This incident recalled a report published last year in a leading news daily that ostrich farming is gaining ground in Pakistan. It is a profitable enterprise. One person who has a farm on the outskirt of the city said he started an ostrich farm and in ten months earned a profit of Rs 1.2 million. Within a year he had recovered half his investment of Rs 2 million.
A few farms have sprung up in Sindh and Punjab where there is ideal condition for ostrich farming. The inspiration to invest in ostrich farming came through the livestock exhibitions. Farmers learnt the world is now switching to ostrich and Emu farming as they are now considered livestock. In Pakistan ostrich farming has not gained such recognition, but hopefully in the near future it will.
It is not just the meat, but the eggs, chicks, oils, plume and hide of the ostrich have a profitable market. Hence, despite the absence of government support, a number of farmers have taken the risk and are raising ostriches on a commercial scale. The main issue is the cost of the birds, as these are imported. Prices range between Rs 25,000 to Rs 150,000 a piece. Chicks are less costly at Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per chick. The cost is considerably cut down for locally purchased chicks bred at a single farm (location withheld). So that explains why a fertilised egg was being stolen from Karachi zoo.
The other issue is recognition of ostrich as livestock. The Punjab government has declared the bird to be livestock, but Sindh has not even considered the issue, even though farmers in the province have voiced their demand for government support.
A poultry farmer I know wondered if ostrich meat would replace chicken and cause a dent in his profit. The big birds are beefy and their meat is said to be delicious. However, food habits do not change fast and he need not worry. By the time ostrich meat becomes popular poultry farmers would have found ways to keep their business going. The demand for chicken is not likely to fall drastically, thanks to food franchises like KFC and Nandos and the prepared chicken products of K&Ns. Also, ostrich cannot replace the demand for chicken tikka.
It will also take sometime to replace chicken with ostrich on the home table. Have poultry farmers forgotten how long it took to encourage the consumers to switch from desi eggs to farm eggs? Nevertheless, the cost of meat has reduced our intake of protein-rich meats and people may in desperation switch to ostrich meat once it becomes freely available because the yield of meat from one ostrich is over a hundred pounds and that would bring down the cost of the meat. The cheaper meat could reach the table faster than you imagine, thanks to inflation. But at the moment all this is mere speculation.
In recalling the commercial benefits of ostrich farming nobody seems to promote them as beasts of burden. They are used for transport in certain parts of Africa. The ostrich can be trained as a beast of burden. It is said the ride on an ostrich is quite exhilarating, and the bird covers great distances in a short time. If so, may be, we could think of abandoning our motorcars and ride ostriches if the price of petrol and CNG keeps rising.
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