First-ever workshop for veterinarians at Mysuru Zoo

“There are 73 critically endangered species identified and measures are being taken up for their conservation through captive breeding at various zoos in the country,” said Anup Kumar Nayak, member- secretary of Central Zoo Authority, New Delhi.

Speaking after inaugurating a three-day workshop of Indian Zoo Veterinarians on the theme, ‘Recent Trends in Captive Wild Animals Management’, at Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, on Monday, he said the main
objective of the captive breeding is to increase the population of endangered species and later release them into the forest.

While the captive breeding of a mouse deer was successful at the Hyderabad zoo, the captive breeding of Gharial in Nanandankanan Zoo failed. The captive breeding of Pangolin in Nanandankanan Zoo, in Odisha, Snow leopard in Himalayan Zoological Park in Darjeeling is under process, Nayak said.The Mysuru Zoo has plans of captive breeding grey jungle fowl, giant squirrel, wolf and wilddog.

CZA

Central Zoo Authority (CZA) is a regulatory authority of all the other zoos in the country. CZA has initiated strict action against the zoos that have failed to follow the standards and guidelines.

“Providing psychological and physiological care to the animals, nutritious food at the right time and prevention of diseases is very important. The veterinarians play a major role in the zoo and its development,” he said.

Speaking to the media later, Anup Kumar said, “There should be mutual consent by the donor and receiver during the animal exchange programme. There should be ready enclosures for the animals, as per the specifications of CZA and approved in the master plan. Importance is given to the sex ratio during the exchange of animals,” he said.He also assured that CZA will make an effort to get a Gorilla to the Mysuru Zoo in future.

Vice Chancellor of Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University of Bidar, H D Narayanaswamy said, “Several wild animals are on the verge of extinction. because of increasing population, globalisation and habitat fragmentation. This also resulted in human-animal conflict. The zoo plays an important role in the captivity breeding of wild animals.”

He also said that captive breeding is a challenge to veterinarians. They have to face challenges like health issues of animals, break out of diseases, its prevention and understanding their behaviour during the diseases.

B P Ravi Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Member Secretary of Zoo Authority of Karnataka said that nearly 30,000 hectare of forest is lost every year due to non-forest activities like mining and other developmental works. The human intervention to the natural habitat has led to the destruction of natural flora and fauna and also resulted in a man and animal conflict.

Zoo also plays a vital role in the conservation of animals, to resolve the human-animal conflict, by creating awareness among the youth. He also requested Anup Kumar Nayak to speed up the animal exchange process.

Neil Bemment, Zoological Consultant and Conservation Advocate, EAZA Gorilla EEP Co-ordinator, EAZA Orangutan EEP vice Co-ordinator, Jagathram, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (APCCF), Ajith Kulkarni Executive Director of Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens were present.