BBP officials go on safari by cars without safety mesh

Officials of the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) went on the lion and tiger safari by official cars which didn’t have the safety mesh, discomforting the wild animals some of whom even bit the bumpers of the vehicles.

According to sources, the wild animals inside the safari are used to the usual green safari vehicles and do not go close to them. Recently, however, the BBP officials themselves used official vehicles with no protective mesh, in a move that could have invited trouble for them.

The official cars were used inside the safari to ferry the BBP officials and their family members. The lions and the tigers were found to be inquisitive about the new vehicles and even bit the bumpers of the new vehicles, the sources added.

A few years ago, an official car of the Jungle Lodges and Resorts entered the safari unknowingly, mowing down a deer passing through the safari. The then executive director had even asked Wildlife SOS, which takes care of the sloth bear safari, to change the colour of its vehicles.

But Range Gowda, executive director, BBP, insisted that the new vehicles had been procured to be regularly used inside the safari and their colour would be camouflaged with that of the forest. He said the new cars would be equipped with the protective mesh so as to be used during regular safari in the coming days.