Nepal's only zoo closes as H5N1 bird flu spreads across districts

Nepal's only zoo has locked its gates. The Central Zoo in Jawalakhel, a district of Lalitpur, closed on Saturday after laboratory tests confirmed what staff had begun to suspect: H5N1 bird flu was moving through the sanctuary. The National Trust for Nature Conservation, which operates the facility, announced the shutdown on Friday with no reopening date set. The closure will last at least two weeks, though officials made clear that timeline could extend depending on what veterinarians and disease experts recommend.

The virus had already claimed lives inside the zoo's walls. Eight to ten birds and animals died in the outbreak—egrets, owls, and vultures among them, along with civets and leopard cats. The confirmation came Thursday evening when laboratory results on crow and pigeon carcasses tested positive. By then, the damage was done. Rachana Shah, a spokesperson for the Trust, said the organization was consulting with veterinarians about how to protect the remaining animals from further infection. Strict biosecurity measures were put in place immediately after the lab report arrived.

But the zoo's closure is a symptom of a larger crisis spreading across Nepal. The H5N1 outbreak did not begin in Jawalakhel. It emerged in March in Morang, a district in the eastern part of the country, first detected on March 18 in two locations: Sundarharaicha-4 and Urlabari-8. From there, it has moved steadily westward and outward. The Department of Livestock Services confirmed the virus on fifty-five farms scattered across ten districts. The Kathmandu Valley, where the capital sits and where millions of people live, is no longer a safe zone. The virus has arrived.

What happens next depends on factors beyond the zoo's control. Shah said the decision to reopen would rest on expert assessment and risk evaluation. No one is predicting when that might be. The sanctuary's animals—the ones that survived—are now isolated in a facility designed to hold them, but not to contain an invisible threat moving through the air and settling on surfaces. The zoo that was meant to be a place where Nepalis could see their wildlife up close has become, for now, a quarantine zone.

The broader outbreak continues to move. Fifty-five farms across ten districts means the virus is not contained to one region or one type of facility. It means farmers are losing birds. It means biosecurity protocols that seemed theoretical are now urgent. And it means a country with one zoo—a single place where its citizens could encounter their own animals in one location—has had to close that door. The question now is not whether the zoo will reopen, but when the conditions that would allow it to do so will return.