Central Zoo Authority (CZA) member-secretary Anup Kumar Nayak said on Monday that conservation breeding of 73 critically endangered species was being taken up at various Indian zoos, including the Mysuru zoo. The aim is to breed such species in captivity and release them into the wild later, after meeting all the protocols.
Speaking after inaugurating a workshop for veterinarians of Indian zoos, organised by the Zoo Authority of Karnataka and Mysuru zoo on the theme ‘recent trends in captive wild management’, Mr. Nayak said the CZA identified such species for conservation breeding after taking note of the drastic decline in their numbers in the wild. The zoos that are part of the project are identified as “coordinating zoos” and “participating zoos”, and their roles and responsibilities have been defined as per their record and expertise in captive breeding.
The Indian gaur, lion-tailed macaque, grey wolf, wild dog, grey jungle fowl, and giant squirrel are the species for which Mysuru zoo is carrying out conservation breeding. Among the other critically endangered species whose conservation breeding was under way across the country are snow leopard (in Himachal Pradesh) and pangolin (at Nandankanan zoo in Odisha).
Barring mouse deer, gharial, and vulture species, no other species listed for conservation breeding has been released into the wild. Mouse deer bred in the Hyderabad zoo and vultures bred in captive conditions at Pinjore in Haryana were successfully released into the wild, but the release of the gharial was unsuccessful. “All three species of vultures were successfully bred in captivity,” said Mr. Nayak.
At the three-day veterinarians’ workshop, in which more than 30 vets from various Indian zoos and Forest Departments are participating, two international speakers and 17 Indian speakers are sharing their experiences and knowledge. The topics include nutrition and management care for primates, animal nutrition in zoos, chemical immobilisation of large herbivores, critical monitoring of immobilised wild animals, advanced techniques in identification of species, sex and pregnancy detection, rescue, capture, translocation and reintroduction of wild animals, and the role of veterinarians in ex-situ conservation.
In his presidential address, ZAK member-secretary B.P. Ravi said veterinarians should have passion, compassion, skill, knowledge and common sense in dealing with wild animals. They need to be prepared to face unpredictable circumstances in the wild and challenges such as human-animal conflict, he said.
This is the first time Mysuru zoo has organised a workshop for zoo veterinarians.
H.D. Narayanswamy, Vice-Chancellor of Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, Bidar, was the chief guest. He said veterinarians’ play a key role in the prevention of zoonotic diseases. Veterinarians face challenges whenever there is a sudden outbreak of disease. “Before the disease is understood, we may lose many animals. Veterinarians need to understand how viruses can be tackled,” he said, referring to the recent outbreaks of avian flu and Nipah.
