Chamundi center to be Karnataka’s ex-situ tiger conservation centre

MYSURU: What started as a centre to keep animals rescued from human conflict zones and animals in captivity that are sick and aged, Chamundi Wildlife Conservation, Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre, which is attached to 130-year-old Mysuru Zoo, has developed into a model rescue centre and conservation breeding hub in Karnataka.
The centre will also turn into a dedicated tiger rescue centre given the facilities it has created in the last seven years. On any given day about 20 tigers rescued from the fringes of forests with tigers – Bandipur, Nagarahole, and BRT Tiger Reserves — can be kept in the centre.
The focus will be on tiger conservation and breeding at Chamundi Centre, disclosed BP Ravi, member-secretary of the Zoo Authority of Karnataka. Bengaluru’s Bannerghatta will have a dedicated leopard conservation centre with the exclusive facility to keep at least 60 leopards on any given day and Hampi zoo will have a dedicated rescue centre for bears. Hereafter, rescued animals like tigers, leopards and bears will be shifted to respective rehabilitation centres.
Spread across 130 acres, including 15 acres of water body, in north west Mysuru, Chamundi Centre has not just helped forest authorities in keeping rescued animals over a period of time, but it has developed into a centre for ecological solutions, the IFS officer said. Apart from rehabilitating big cats like tigers and leopards, today it is marching ahead as an ex-situ conservation breeding centre for seven animal/bird species like lion tailed macaque, Indian grey wolf, dholes, Indian gaur, among others. In the coming days, exclusive conservation centres for Nilgiri langur, giant squirrel and grey jungle fowl have been planned on the campus, Ravi, who is an additional principal chief conservator of forests, said.
At an exclusive eight acres earmarked for Indian gaurs, four gaurs from different landscapes have been brought here for conservation and breeding. Animals bred here can be released into the forest in the near future to increase their population or increase the prey base for carnivore animals in the tiger reserve, said Ravi.
Inaugurated in 2013
It was in 2013 when officers from the Central Zoo Authority stressed the need for the exclusive rescue centre to get approval for the Zoo Master Plan, and the Chamundi rehabilitation centre was proposed. Mysuru Zoo was the largest zoo and was also self-reliant. Literally, Chamundi Centre is the proudest possession of Mysuru Zoo as it was created solely from the revenue generated from the visitors to Mysuru Zoo. Without any special fund or grants from the government or CZA, about Rs 25 crore were pooled in for the creation of the centre, which was inaugurated in 2015, Ravi said.
Local MLA GT Devegowda and then deputy commissioner C Shikha helped in creating the facility, Ravi recalled. He said today they incur an average expenditure of Rs 1.5 to 2 crore every year to take care of rescued, aged and sick animals – tiger, leopards, elephants and bears — along with other expenses.