ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court issued contempt notices to Climate Change State Minister Zartaj Gul, Special Assistant Malik Amin Aslam and members of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board on Tuesday in the case pertaining to the death of animals at the capital’s zoo.

Two lions died while being transferred from Islamabad’s Marghazar zoo to a farmhouse in Lahore, it was reported on July 30. They were being shifted on the May 22 orders of the Islamabad High Court. A man filed a petition in the court over the negligence of the wildlife authority in the case.

The case was heard by Chief Justice Athar Minallah.

During the hearing, Climate Change Secretary Naheed Durrani took responsibility for the lion’s death and said that the Federal Cabinet had nothing to do with it.

To this, Justice Minallah replied that since the government had given approval for the wildlife boards, it was also responsible.

The chief justice asked whether the climate change department wanted notices to be issued to the prime minister. “The PM doesn’t even know what has unfolded here.”

“This case is an example of the tyranny humans have enforced upon animals,” Justice Minallah said, adding that people have been keeping wild animals as pets and the government should completely ban the import of any such animals.

He demanded that the investigation report and FIR of the lions’ deaths be presented before the court.

The court issued show-cause notices for contempt of court to the climate change minister, adviser and secretary, and members of the board. The hearing was adjourned till August 27. NNI