New attractions to greet visitors at zoo soon

Animal exchange programme receives necessary approvals

The two female tigers currently at the zoological park in Visakhapatnam.

Visitors to the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP) would soon be able to see new faces from the animal kingdom from close quarters.

The animal exchange programme between the city zoo and other zoos within the country has got the necessary approvals, and will be initiated shortly.

Two male tigers

Two male tigers will be brought from Mangalore zoo in exchange of a pair of wild dogs.

“Tigers have been one of the main attractions at the zoo. We are presently left with two female tigers. The animal exchange programme will improve the collection of this much sought-after animal at the zoo. We expect to get the animals in a month’s time,” zoo curator B. Vijay Kumar told

The Hindu .

The carnivore population at the zoo will further get a boost with a pair of lions from Sakkarbaug Zoological Gardens in exchange of one male and two female wild dogs.

IGZP is the country’s only zoo selected for carrying out a conservation breeding initiative for the endangered and hard-to-spot dholes or Indian wild dog.

“We have received many animal exchange requests from other zoos for the wild dogs. At present, the numbers of wild dogs is going up and hence we first want to initiate animal exchange programmes with other zoos and improve our animal collection of other species,” Mr. Kumar added.

At present, the city zoo has over 40 wild dogs at the enclosure.

Pair of black bear

The city zoo will also get a pair of Himalayan black bear (one male and one female) from the Guwahati zoo in exchange of one male white tiger.

IGZP, incidentally, has seen successful inbreeding of white tigers, a species that is much in demand in other zoos of the country. While the animal exchange programmes within India has picked up pace, the city zoo is still battling financial hurdles in getting the much-awaited exotic species like zebra and pygmy hippo from Israel and Sri Lanka.