November 6, 2025
KARACHI – After years of captivity at the Karachi Zoo, 24-year-old female brown bear Rano was flown to Islamabad on Wednesday, where she was moved to a sanctuary for a second chance at life.
According to Sindh Wildlife Conservator Javed Ahmed Mahar, Rano was transported to the capital on a Pakistan Air Force C-130 aircraft, which took off at 8:30am and landed at the Nur Khan Airbase a little after 11:30am.
From the Karachi Zoo, the bear was first taken to Faisal Base in a wooden brown crate on a cargo pickup truck, which Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) officials said she entered willingly and without having to be sedated.
“At just three calls, she walked from the sleeping area in her enclosure and into the crate,” said Sana Raja of the IWMB in a video. She added that Rano did not show any signs of distress and was also eating well.
Meanwhile, Mahar said that the team continuously monitored the bear on the flight, while Rano, despite the roar of the C-130 engine, caught up on lost sleep. “The technical staff at the Nur Khan Airbase helped with offloading Rano,” he added.
She was then taken to the IWMB bear rehabilitation facility, where she was given food and moved into a quarantine area. “Her stay here could last up to a month for examination and other protocols, after which she will be taken to a larger area,” said Anees, an official of the wildlife board, in a video shared by Mahar.
In the clip, a curious Rano could be seen sniffing her new, green home. Her otherwise heaving and panting body looked calm and at peace. She will be kept at the rehabilitation centre run by the IWMB before finally returning to her natural habitat in Gilgit Baltistan.
For years, Rano had languished at the Karachi Zoo, first inside a Victorian-era pit and then in a barren cage, a cell where she paced restlessly day and night on worn-out, hard flooring. Her situation had prompted animal rights activists to approach the Sindh High Court (SHC) seeking her relocation to the sanctuary in Islamabad.
Earlier this month, the SHC had ordered the bear’s relocation to the bear sanctuary. The court had also formed a committee to ensure her safe relocation, which included members of the IWMB, who had previously visited Karachi to train Rano.
Ray of hope
Mahera Omar, co-founder of the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society, said that zoos were unable to meet the complex psychological and behavioural needs of wild animals, nor could they replicate the ecosystems that are their rightful home.
“Zoos must be phased out and the animals rehabilitated in appropriate species-specific sanctuaries,” Omar said.
“Animals are not meant for our entertainment,” said Omar. “They deserve to live freely in their own habitats across protected national parks.”
She added that Rano’s rescue offers a ray of hope for the many other innocent animals silently suffering in captivity across Pakistan.
Lawyer and activist Jibran Nasir, who fought Rano’s case in the SHC, called her relocation a win for all animal rights activists and journalists who covered the bear’s suffering and raised their voices over the years. He also thanked the court for bringing Rano’s suffering to an end.
“Rano’s case is not an isolated one. Many animals have perished and continue to suffer at Karachi Zoo due to its inadequate facilities, apathetic and ill-trained staff,” he stressed. “Karachi Zoo was originally a botanical garden, and that is the purpose it should serve as opposed to being a living hell for animals.”
“For the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, the zoo is only a cash cow, and they justify its existence as a cheap source of entertainment for Karachiites. We need to educate our children about animals, not reduce them and their misery and suffering as a source of entertainment,” he added.
Years of neglect
In March 2017, the bear was transferred from a breeding farm and research centre to the Karachi Zoological Gardens under an animal exchange programme. Not having owned bears for 16 years, Rano was confined inside a Victorian-era pit that last housed Emma, a Balochistan black bear said to have gone mad in captivity.
Housed with Rano was an Asiatic black bear that died in 2020, leaving Rano in solitary confinement. That year, Rano’s suffering came to the fore after a video of her panting and leaning against the wall of the cement pit went viral on social media.
Subsequently, a petition was filed in the Sindh High Court seeking Rano’s transfer to a sanctuary. In response, however, the zoo officials shifted her to another cage, not any better than the previous one. Over the years, her condition worsened, reaching the point of psychosis.
Earlier this year, activists rallied for Rano’s freedom once again after the bear underwent treatment for a head injury — an old wound that seemed to have been infested by maggots due to lack of care.
Animal rights activist Jude Allen Pereira petitioned the SHC, through his counsel Nasir, stating that the bear was deprived of species-specific environmental enrichment, suitable climatic conditions and necessary medical care.
When a two-judge bench comprising Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Syed Fiaz-ul-Hassan Shah took up the matter on Oct 14, the court ordered the brown bear be shifted from the Karachi zoo to the IWMB bear sanctuary within 48 hours.