Zoo to have conservation breeding centre for ‘dhole’

It will be ready by this month-end, says curator G. Ramalingam. A series of successful in-breeding of wild dogs in the city zoo saw the population increasing from two to 22, the highest number of wild dogs in captivity in the country, according to current records.

Litter of a wild dog at Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in Visakhapatnam. PHOTO: K.R. Deepak

The country’s first conservation breeding centre for the endangered wild dog or ‘dhole’ will be ready at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP) by the end of this month.

Speaking to The Hindu , zoo curator G. Ramalingam has said the project, which will be the first in the country, is being built at a total cost of Rs. 35 lakh. “Funds have been sanctioned and will be released by Central Zoo Authority in phases. We expect the centre to be ready by the month-end.” The breeding centre will have 24-hour monitoring unit with CCTV cameras.

A separate area has been earmarked for setting up the pilot project within the zoo premises. IGZP has appointed a biologist to study the behaviour of the wild dogs.

A series of successful in-breeding of wild dogs in the city zoo saw the population increasing from two to 22, the highest number of wild dogs in captivity in the country, according to current records. Similar in-breeding of wild dogs has been carried out in the zoos in Chennai and Mysore without much success.

Highly sensitive

This year, two new litters of wild dogs were spotted at the wild dog enclosure, which are now being closely monitored to prevent disturbances. “Wild dogs are highly sensitive to disturbances and the young ones are vulnerable till they cross five months,” says the curator. The pack of young ones is spotted only in the early hours of the day and in the late evenings when the keeper comes to serve them food. Hovering kites and eagles are a threat to the pack.

The conservation centre in IGZP is expected to help in recovering the population of the wild dogs, which are classified as endangered by the IUCN due to habitat loss, depletion of prey base and destruction of forest corridors leading to fights with other predators and diseases from domestic and feral dogs.

Wild dogs live in packs and the size of the packs indicates the health of the species. While they are afraid of humans, a pack of ‘dholes’ is bold enough to attack large animals such as wild boar and even tigers.

They are seen in the central Indian Highlands, the Western and Eastern Ghats and in northeast states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, and West Bengal.