Karnataka: White tigress arrives at Pilikula zoo

MANGALURU: The Pilikula zoo IN Mangaluru has received one female white tiger -Kaveri and a female ostrich from Arignar Anna Zoological Park, Chennai, under the animal exchange programme.
H J Bhandary, director, Pilikula Biological Park, said that Kaveri is the first white tigress in the zoo and another male tiger is expected to join her soon. Kaveri and the ostrich will be in quarantine for at least a week for observation till they get acclimatized to the local conditions. The public may be able to get their glimpse from the next week. The zoo has about a thousand animals, reptiles and birds and most of the species are breeding.
Pilikula zoo is sparing one male Bengal tiger-Sanjay, four dholes, and some snake species to Chennai. At present Pilikula has 11 Bengal tigers of which seven are male and two male ostriches.
He said efforts are on to procure Asiatic lion, Indian wolf, white buck, sloth bear, hog deer, nilgai and varieties of rare birds from Rajkot Zoo, Gujarat, Gorewada zoo of Maharashtra and Nandankanan zoo of Odisha. Surplus animals in Pilikula zoo will be sent to other zoos under the animal exchange programme. The concerned zoos have mutually agreed and are waiting for the consent from Central Zoo Authority, New Delhi for exchange.
The animal exchange programme took a back seat during the last two years because of the pandemic. Currently, the extreme weather condition especially in North Indian states is delaying the exchange of animal.s At the Pilikula Zoo, all measures to help the animals beat the heat have been taken up. All enclosures have been provided with water sprinklers and freshwater is provided everyday, Bhandary said.