Survey of internal parasites in captive ungulates from Lahore parks, Pakistan

Wild animals are mostly kept for recreational purposes in zoos and parks. Health-related issues faced by these enclosure animals. The GIT (gastrointestinal tract) of an animal is affected by parasitic infections. The current study was conducted to fi nd out the prevalence and diversity of GI parasites of wild animals enclosed in the different parks and zoos of Lahore. Fresh faecal samples (n=110) of captive ungulate species were collected from Lahore Zoo (n=55), Jallo Park (n=35) and the woodland wildlife park (n=20). Samples obtained from captive ungulates include 23 from black buck, 24 from moufl on sheep, 30 from hog deer, 13 from nilgai and 20 from urial. Methods such as the fl otation concentration technique, the sedimentation technique and the faecal egg count per gram were used to analyze the diversity of endoparasites in faecal samples. Parasitological analyses detect 10 parasites in the faecal sample. Kruskal-Wallis Post Hoc statistical test was used to compare the prevalence of the specifi ed parasitic species among different captive ungulates. The results show that individuals of lower age are more susceptible to infections. The overall diversity of GI parasitic infections in captive ungulates was 77.25 %. Survivability of captive ungulates could be affected by the prevalence of parasitic species. These fi ndings can be used to develop effective health protocols for captive ungulates, thereby reducing the severe consequences of GI parasitic infections in captive wild animals.