KARACHI; Authorities have begun arrangements to relocate Rano, the brown bear currently kept at the Karachi Zoo, to a wildlife sanctuary in Gilgit-Baltistan following directives from the Sindh High Court (SHC).
Earlier this month, the SHC instructed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to move Rano to the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board’s Bear Sanctuary within two days, bringing an end to the animal’s years-long confinement in inadequate conditions.
On Wednesday, Sindh Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah chaired a high-level meeting at the Sindh Secretariat to review preparations for Rano’s transfer. According to a statement from the chief secretary’s spokesperson, the meeting was attended by senior officials from the Sindh Wildlife Department, KMC, and the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board, as well as several wildlife experts.
Officials informed the meeting that a specially designed iron cage, built according to international safety standards, has been prepared for Rano’s relocation. Wildlife experts are conducting daily behavioral training to help her adjust comfortably to the cage before transfer.
The statement added that Rano has shown a positive response to the training. She has developed a trusting bond with wildlife ranger Sanna Raja and has begun eating honey directly from her hand — a sign of growing comfort and reduced stress.
Chief Secretary Shah instructed that the bear must not be sedated or forcibly captured during the move. Instead, she should enter the transport cage voluntarily through positive reinforcement methods. He also ordered that the entire process be recorded for transparency and directed the Wildlife Department to ensure Islamabad’s facilities are ready before the transfer.
As per court orders, Rano will first be shifted to Islamabad and later to her permanent home in the Gilgit-Baltistan sanctuary.
Shah also called on the Wildlife Department to propose a complete ban on importing exotic animals, citing the trauma and depression they face in unnatural captivity. He emphasized adherence to international wildlife protection conventions, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and CITES.
Rano, a Himalayan brown bear, was brought to Karachi Zoo in 2017 along with another bear that died in 2020. Recently, she was being treated for a head injury reportedly caused by hitting the metal bars of her cage.
A committee formed in January had already recommended Rano’s immediate transfer to a bear sanctuary after observing signs of stress and abnormal behavior. Animal welfare activists have long maintained that Rano belongs to the critically endangered Himalayan brown bear species, not the Syrian species as previously claimed by zoo authorities.
