Maharashtra’s ban on beef has had an unexpected consequence. With beef suppliers across the state on strike to protest the new move, even legal water buffalo meat is not available. As a result, Maharashtra’s captive carnivores have been forced to subsist on chicken.

Among them are the tigers, lions and leopards in captivity at Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park, who have been off their regular diet for two weeks now.

“The natural diet of carnivores is anyway beef,” said Dr Sanjiv Pinjarkar, veterinarian officer at the park. “In the wild, they eat animals like chital and buffalos and it is the same in all zoos in India. They all feed their carnivores beef.”

The big cats are not the only beef eaters at the park. There are also three Indian vultures, a highly endangered species, that subsist on beef and chicken. The only carnivores that do not eat beef at the park are six rusty spotted cats, among the smallest members of the cat family, who have more variety in their diet. They eat boiled eggs, fish and cat feed.

A large order

At the national park, that works out to around 150 kg of beef a day, barring one day of fasting a week, for three lions, nine tigers, 14 leopards and three vultures. The park’s monthly order for beef works out to almost 4,500 kg, all supplied from the Deonar abattoir.

Much of this beef was water buffalo meat anyway, so the ban is not likely to have a long term effect on them – unless suppliers at Deonar continue to strike.

Vikas Gupta, director and Chief Conservator of Forests at the park, said the park was not concerned as yet.

“Whenever there is a shortage of buffalo meat, we give the carnivores chicken instead, so this is a normal routine that they are used to,” he said. “Buffalo meat is legal, so once supply of buffalo meat resumes, we will return to that diet. I am sure things will be resolved soon.”

Strike continues

Two weeks after the ban, it is not yet clear how long the suppliers’ strike will last.

“The strike began only when the ban reached Maharashtra’s interiors,” explained Shanawaz Thanawala of Ever New Traders, a company that has been supplying beef to Mumbai’s Byculla zoo almost uninterrupted since 1976. “Bulls and buffalos are not born in Mumbai, they all come from different parts of the state.”

He wasn't sure how long the ban would last. Thanawala had already stopped supplying beef to the zoo at the time of the ban. The zoo’s last big carnivore, a lioness named Jimmy, died in December.

For now, carnivores at the national park will have to subsist on chicken, which is a leaner meat than beef, and therefore needs to be given in much larger quantities. Costs have not yet gone up.

“We have a supply arrangement with the Deonar abattoir, so they have to provide us a certain amount of meat,” said Pinjarkar, the park veterinarian. “Since beef is unavailable, they are giving us chicken instead.”

Altered diets

Changing animals’ diets is not as easy as it sounds, particularly as animals in captivity are not in their natural habitat. This means he has had to recalibrate their diets carefully to account for chicken’s lower fat percentage.

“In the wild, the animals have more exercise and eat only twice or thrice a week,” Pinjarkar said. “We do change their diet regularly and ensure that they do not overeat.”

Pork and mutton, other potential meats are not viable alternatives either, he said. Both are too fatty for animals in captivity as they get far less exercise than their counterparts in the wild, and could in the long run lead to significant health issues.