Hunting cheetahs enjoy chicken, other cubs miss it

All the animals which were fed chicken at Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens (Mysore zoo) are deprived of it. However, the five hunting cheetahs enjoy their share as usual.

The outbreak of bird flu at Central Poultry Farm at Hesaragatta in Bangalore has even affected the intake of the poultry meat by animals at the zoo.
Owing to fear of spread of bird flu, the Zoo Authority of Karnataka which had taken remedial measures to avoid the infection to other birds is now concentrating on feeding the animals poultry meat.

Even as other carnivores have to forego chicken meat, the five hunting cheetahs are fed with it despite the fear of disease. But utmost care is being taken by the authority to get quality meat for the animals.

Dressed meat

While earlier, the chicken was brought to the gardens undressed, it is now brought dressed from registered farms to avoid any untoward reactions among the fed animals. The meat which was given raw to the animals before is now cleansed with more care and given only after it is boiled. The quantity of the poultry meat has also been reduced to 15 -20 kgs per day against that of  30-50 kgs per day earlier.
Privilege

The poultry meat brought now is only to meet the requirements of the cheetahs. Though cubs of tiger, leopard and lion were regularly fed with chicken, the adult tigers, leopards and lions were fed with chicken meat only once or twice a week and regularly provided beef.

The cubs and also the vultures which were dependent on chicken are presently fed with beef as a precautionary measure.