Bihar may get 50 animals for Patna zoo & Rajgir Zoo Safari

PATNA: If everything goes well, the state will get over 50 animals of different varieties from abroad for the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, commonly known as Patna zoo, and Rajgir Zoo Safari.
As a part of animal exchange programme, Bihar will get African lion, giraffe, zebra, Nile crocodile, double-horned rhino, Oryx (large antelope species) and gazelle (small antelope species), as a gift from South Africa. The senior officials of department of environment, forest and climate change (DEFCC) are in preliminary talks with the consulate general for the agreement and transportation of exotic animals.
The officials said one meeting was held through videoconferencing with the officials in South Africa and they were ready to give exotic animals as a donation. “We are in the initial stage of talks and things will be cleared after another round of meeting. The state government will bear all the cost of transit and other facilities besides setting up of enclosures,” the officials said.
The state government will give around Rs10 crore, including Rs7.5 for transportation of animals, quarantine, veterinary support, aftercare service and vaccination, while the remaining amount will be spent on developing enclosures for inmates at Patna zoo as per the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) guideline.
As per the initial plan, the state will get 10 giraffes, eight zebras (3:5 ratio), two pairs of double-horned rhinos, two pairs of African lions, 6 pairs of Oryx, 6 pairs of gazelles and two pairs of Nile crocodile. According to officials, the number could vary. Patna zoo already has seven giraffes and as per the revised collection plan, the zoo can put only 4:6 giraffe in captive. The remaining will be sent to Rajgir Zoo Safari.
The city zoo officials said a big enclosure with night house will be set up on the zoo premises for giraffes because for each pair, there should be 1,500 square metres area. “The plan is to keep animals accordingly to keep species of animals to check inbreeding (breeding among animals of same blood in the zoo). Genetic diversity is important, but in exotic animals, there are less chances of inbreeding. Besides, African lion will be kept separately from Asiatic lion that we have in our zoo. Enclosures for Nile crocodile, double-horned rhino, Oryx and gazelle will be made,” an official said.
Earlier, the zoo was in talks with Danish Zoo for Nile crocodile and Vietnam zoo for double-horned rhino. But it was not materialized due to some reasons.