The visitors to the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP) can now see lions after a gap of five years, as the zoo authorities released a pair of Asiatic lions into enclosures for public viewing on Friday.
The pair was brought from the Sakkarbaug Zoo at Junagarh in Gujarat as part of the animal exchange programme.
The male lion, Patvad, was the first to emerge from the night crawl and walked majestically into the moat in the enclosure. It went behind the trees after looking around for a few minutes, perhaps shying away from the public glare. A little later, the lioness, Maheswari, walked into the moat and stared at the visitors who were gathered around the enclosure.
Maheswari then clung onto the trunk of a tree, much to the delight of photo journalists and visitors who caught her moves on their cameras and cellphones. She then took a leisurely stroll on the edge of the moat. A little later, she ran towards Patvad, but, a roar from the latter made her change track, and move away from him.
Animal exchange programme
“The Asiatic lions were brought from Gujarat in exchange for wild dogs from our zoo in August this year. Our zoo had no lion for the past five years,” said zoo curator Yesoda Bai.
RINL Chief Vigilance Officer P.J. Vijayakar, NTPC-Simhadri Senior Manager (CSR) P. Anant Jagannath, Deputy Manager (CSR) Prakash, Waltair Marshalling Yard Area Officer Anil Kumar, and Divisional Forest Officer C. Selvam were present on the occasion.
Zebras next
Later replying to the queries from the media, Ms. Yesoda Bai said that a pair of zebra was requisitioned from the Alipore Zoo in Kolkata as part of the animal exchange programme. The zebras would be released into their moat next month. Wild dogs and lemurs were sent to the Alipore Zoo in exchange for the zebras, she added.
