JOIN USThe most-awaited zebra enclosure at the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) is ready and will be inaugurated on October 19. It is after a wait of four years that zebras will again enthuse visitors.
The enclosure, spread across one acre, is just near the zoo entrance. It has been constructed by Infosys Foundation, under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative at a cost of around Rs 50 lakh.
Santosh Kumar, BBP executive director, said that they were waiting for other enclosures to be ready to inaugurate all of them together. But getting other animals is taking time. So, the authorities are going ahead with the opening of the zebra enclosure.
The BBP had got four zebras in November 2015 under an animal exchange programme from the Zoological Centre, Tel Aviv Ramat Gan (safari), Israel. As per procedure, the animals had to be quarantined before being shifted to cages for public display.
Getting the test reports of the blood and swab samples and finishing all procedures took the Zoo Authority of Karnataka more than six months.
Presently, BBP has 1,939 animals of 95 species, including herbivores and carnivores. The zoo management is in talks with the Uttarakhand government to get four giraffes in exchange for two female elephants. They are also discussing modalities to get four jackals and two Gharials from Jaipur, in exchange for four spotted deer. But approval for this is awaited from the Central Zoo Authority.
“Since getting other animals is taking time, we decided not to hold back the display of zebras any more. The visitors at the zoo have also been demanding that more species be kept for public viewing,” a park official said.
Cauvery row effect
Normally, during holidays and the festive season, the number of visitors to the park increases. But this time, because of the Cauvery row, the number of tourists, especially from Tamil Nadu, has come down.