Galloping zebras, new attraction at Bannerghatta

Zoo to get giraffes, elands soon

The next time you visit Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) you will be surprised to be greeted by four two-year old Zebras galloping around.

The zebra enclosure spread across 360 sqft was formally inaugurated on Wednesday. Funded by the Infosys Foundation, the enclosure has been built at a cost of Rs 63 lakh.

The two male and two female zebras have been donated by Tel Aviv Ramat Gan (Safari) Israel. Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty named the zebras Bharat, Prithvi, Cauvery and Hemavathi. She directed the contractor to plant more fast growing trees in the zebra enclosure to ensure that the animals get shade.

Harishchandra and Manjunath are the animal keepers of the four zebras. They have been keeping a close watch on the animals for the last 10 months, the time they were brought to the zoo and kept in the quarantine centre.

“For the last 18 years, I have been taking care of tigers at the rescue centre and safari and now I am posted here. This is not only challenging but also exciting. Though these zebras are new to me, they have already adjusted to me,” said Harishchandra.

After a meeting with Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) B J Hosmath, Sudha said that the Foundation was keen to fund infrastructural needs of zoos and forest patches in smaller areas like Ballari, Belagavi, Ranebennur and Gadag. Providing water will be given priority. She said that the Foundation has earlier granted Rs 1.5 crore for tiger enclosure at BBP.

Speaking to reporters on the occasion, BBP Executive Director Santosh Kumar said the zoo will house a variety of other species as per the Bannerghatta Master Plan 2014-15. He said the BBP will soon showcase African white lions, giraffe, baboons, Common eland. The infrastructure to house these animals has already been put in place.

Kumar said Germany zoo authority was donating lions, elands and baboons. Two pairs of giraffe are being brought in exchange of two zoo elephants.  “We have been building larger and open enclosures for monkeys, hippos and Himalayan Bears as per Central Zoo Authority (CZA) standards,’’ he added.

A few bonnet macaques jumped out of the enclosure when the BBP shifted them to one such open enclosure for a trial. The BBP has asked Dr B K Gupta, an expert from CZA to visit the place and give suggestions before moving animals to these new open enclosures.

The BBP is awaiting CZA’s clearance for a proposal to construct enclosures for Dholes, Jackal and Wolf, which were sent in December last. It is also awaiting green signal from the Public Works department to increase the height of zoo boundary walls and add a wall in BBP Rescue Centre.