A total of 115 star tortoises arrived at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP) here on Thursday from the mini zoo of Nagarjuna Fertilsers and Chemicals Limited (NFCL), Kakinada. These are in addition to nine peacocks, which arrived from Kakinada on Wednesday.
The star tortoises and peacocks were shifted to the Vizag Zoo on the directions of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) as they were not properly maintained at Kakinada. “The star tortoises, which are an endangered species, will be quarantined for a few days, before they are shifted to the tortoise enclosure,” Zoo Curator B. Vijay Kumar said.
“The topmost priority of zoos is the conservation of endangered species and saving them from extinction in the wild by taking up captive breeding. Vizag Zoo is one of the most successful zoos in the country, which has successfully taken up captive breeding of rare animal species,” the curator told The Hindu .
Scarcity of resources was hampering the breeding programme and other developing activities at the zoo. Awareness programmes were being conducted in a big way to motivate organisations as also individuals to adopt zoo animals and donate for their maintenance.
Divis Labs has promised Rs.30 lakh for undertaking rain water harvesting in the zoo. Hetero Drugs has come forward to donate Rs.1.9 lakh towards food cost of a white tiger for one year and PharmaZell has donated Rs.1 lakh towards maintenance of tortoises and birds for a year.
An incubator, purchased with funds given by Dr. Reddy’s Foundation, and an upgraded Nature Library at Bioscope at the zoo, were inaugurated on Wednesday.
The incubator will help in the breeding of rare avian species.
World Elephant Day
Elephant population is going down due to poaching and other illegal activities. World Elephant Day is observed every year on August 12 since 2012 to create awareness among the public on the need to conserve elephants.
An awareness meet would be conducted at the Bioscope in the zoo on Friday morning.
Around 100 children of Sri Prakash School would participate in the event. A film on elephants would be screened on the occasion.
Zebras from Israel
Mr. Vijay Kumar said two female elephants were expected to arrive from the Aurangabad Zoo in about 10 days and two pairs of zebras were expected shortly from Israel.
Two pairs of lions would be requisitioned from the Junagarh Zoo in exchange for wild dogs.
