New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) After a long hiatus, the Delhi Zoo is set to welcome new residents this month, including a Bengal tiger, a rhinoceros and a blackbuck, as part of an animal exchange programme with Assam, an official announced on Friday.
“The zoo team will depart for Assam in a truck on September 2 to bring new members to our zoo,” the Delhi Zoo official told PTI.
A male rhinoceros, a Bengal tiger and a blackbuck will be part of the exchange programme, he said.
Delhi’s National Zoological Park, commonly called Delhi Zoo, had approached the Assam zoo for a male rhinoceros as it has not housed one for the past nine years, the official said.
Under the exchange programme, the Assam State Zoo-cum Botanical Garden wanted a female rhinoceros and a Bengal tiger, the Delhi Zoo official said. It was not clear when the animals would be shifted to the Assam zoo from Delhi.
“Delhi’s zoo has two female rhinoceros — Maheshwari and her daughter Anjuna,” the official said.
“This marks the first exchange in several years, as the programme had been repeatedly postponed due to extreme temperature fluctuations and unfavourable weather conditions,” he said.
The animal exchange programme is a crucial part of the zoo’s efforts at diversification and conservation efforts.
The official said it will take four days for the team to reach Assam and and another four days return with the animals safely.
Zoo authorities are optimistic about the success of the programme as weather conditions are now favourable for safe transport of the animals. PTI NSM NSM BM SKY SKY
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