Kolkata:
More than 25 days have passed since the Centenary Heritage Zoological Museum was gutted and now there seems to be a series of allegations and counter-allegations being thrown about within the zoology department.
On Monday, Ena Ray Banerjee, who heads the Immuno Biology and Regenerative Medicine Research Unit of the zoology department in Calcutta University and was in charge of the museum since 2012, alleged that not only were some of the partially charred specimens lying under lock and key under high temperature and humidity, but even those exhibits which could have been recovered may now be lost
She further pointed out that the fact that skulls and skeletons have just been kept in a room by the department shows a degree of apathy towards a world-class heritage museum. “It’s an irony that on the World Heritage Day, instead of celebrating the natural history heritage we have inherited, the department chose to keep the partially damaged, rescue-worthy, ancient, rare and even extinct animal specimens in a room at a temperature which was over 40 degrees last week. The high humidity is also detrimental for the specimens because fungal contamination can set in very quickly,” Ray Banerjee said.
The former museum head also said that the collections are now exposed to vehicular pollution from the Ballygunge Circular Road towards which the rooms’ windows are open.
“It does not have air-conditioning. It is a practical laboratory table on which the specimens are strewn indiscriminately and they are also handled by bare hands. The fungal bacteria will decay the flesh, denature the protein, preempting any proteomic studies. The nucleases present on human hands will destroy the nucleic acid, forbidding DNA bar coding of the specimens,” she alleged.
Citing a letter from senior scientist Alan Warren of the Natural History Museum in London, Ray Banerjee said, “In his letter, Warren has categorically mentioned that there is an optimum condition in which such archival specimens must be stored. But over the past 25 days there is no such attempt.”
“While the decay progresses in a linear manner in the first few days, once it sets in, the growth is exponential and the flesh is irreversibly lost taking with it valuable information of a time gone by. Science and technology would have been able to decode the information, but in the absence of proper preservation this will be impossible.”
“The specimens which were over 90% burnt and yet DNA barcoded for the database are capuchin monkeys, Hhwler monkeys, spider monkeys, three-toed sloth, marmoset and a giant squirrel. The south Asian river porpoise, whose skull with skin had remained, is out of bounds for anyone. It may also have been lost,” she said.
Some of the other exhibits which are reportedly threatened with destruction due to being locked under inappropriate conditions are the skulls of royal Bengal tigers. These were partially burnt. “But the bone has been damaged by the huge temperature fluctuation which took place after the fire broke out. Hundreds of old, ancient bones from several animals were stacked together in a shelf, which were being restored and sorted. Sadly, these now lie covered with cement and plaster dust, which is corrosive,” the museum head said.
“The ZSI has done a preliminary survey and has given a list of around 10 specimens which can be recovered. Those exhibits have been kept separately. On Tuesday, a team will again visit us at the Ballygunge Science College campus. A process to rebuild the museum is on. Where will we keep the exhibits? We have asked for a larger space at a suitable location from the university authorities. The museum was not for public display and was only dedicated to academic teaching and learning. She has made a number of claims, which do not have much foundation. She is no longer the head of the museum, which has now been placed under the HOD’s custody,” said Parthib Basu, HOD of the Zoology department of CU.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home>City> Kolkata / April 19th, 2016