In what is seen as hand-holding of small and mini-zoos which are seeing a remarkable development over the last two years, drawing more footfalls, the Mysuru zoo has drawn up a plan to improve their animal and bird collection.
One of the major demands from the small zoos has been to house tigers since they have to sustain themselves generating revenue from the gate collections. If the animal collections at the zoos improve, the footfalls are also expected to improve, doubling their revenue.
A tiger and lion safari has come up at Hampi near Hosapete. The Mysuru zoo recently spared a pair of tigers from its collections to the safari.
So far, eight tigers rescued from the wild, including the one captured from Chowdahalli-Hundipura area bordering Bandipur forest, have been housed at the Mysuru zo rescue centre.
Four zoo tigers, including Madhukeshwara, Okkanna and Shivu, had been shifted to the rescue centre sometime ago. There are also two elephants housed at the centre. Madhukeshwar was taken off from the display area as it developed spinal problem while Okkanna lost sight in one eye and Shivu had other health issues.
“We have taken up captive breeding of wild cats at the rescue centre to support the small and mini-zoos. The Mysuru zoo has adequate number of tigers but the breeding had been taken up to boost the collection of carnivores, especially tigers, at the mini-zoos,” said zoo Executive Director Ajit Kulkarni.
He told The Hindu that the male tiger rescued from Bandipur in October last year and a female tiger captured from Bandipur in September last year have been identified as “potential pair” for captive breeding.
“Both are wild cats and they need to become compatible. For this purpose, we house them in holding rooms next to each other so that they get familiar and develop compatibility. This may take some time and the zoo is hopeful of achieving success in its endeavour since the zoo had captive bred many tigers in the past,” he said.
Mr. Kulkarni said the wild tigers captured and housed at the rescue centre are unlikely to be displayed at the zoo. “The law does not permit display of wild tigers at the zoo. They don’t adjust to the conditions and are by and large confined to one corner if put on public display. The rescue centre will keep them for their lifetime with proper care.”
Unlike the female tiger that was captured and brought to the rescue centre in September last year which was very aggressive and growling if anyone went near its cage, the Bandipur male tiger was not very restless. Perhaps, the pair had been chosen for captive breeding programme considering their “characteristics” besides the fact that they are young.
