Kolkata, Jul 22 (PTI) The West Bengal forest department has ordered an inquiry into media reports about a major discrepancy in the animal inventory of 149-year-old Alipore Zoological Gardens during the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25, an official said on Tuesday.
The reports quoted Central Zoo Authority (CZA) findings which said that against 672 animal species at the end of fiscal 2023-24, the number of such species went down to 351 in 2025, thereby declining by 321.
State’s Chief Wild Life Warden S Sundriyal told PTI the department, under which Alipore Zoo is functional, has ordered an inquiry into the report, which has to be submitted within two weeks.
A petition has been filed in Calcutta High Court by the NGO Swajon earlier this month seeking the HC’s intervention and praying for a direction to the Alipore zoo authorities to furnish details about the exact number of animal species and if there was any substantial decline in their numbers, and the methodology used for counting.
Asked about the petition, Sundriyal said, “We have taken serious note of the issue and we have sought all the details from the zoo authorities concerned. Whatever action needs to be taken, we will initiate.” While the Zoo authorities said the mismatch was nothing but a “simple error in counting method to be rectified soon”, a Swajon spokesperson attributed the decline to factors like administrative failure and possibility of the presence of a wildlife trafficking racket.
Zoo Director Arun Mukherjee said, “The matter is sub-judice. So I won’t comment further.” Another senior zoo official said, “Such discrepancies in the total number have been caused by simple errors in counting methods from either side, and we are trying to fix that. There had been no such large-scale dip in the total number of animals, and we will submit our views before the court.” The Swajon spokesperson said since 1996 the number of animals had been fluctuating in the zoo, showing a rise or decrease of animals, ranging from 5-200, every year.
This did not take into account the rise and fall in the number of newly inducted species as part of exchange programmes with other zoos or the death of an animal or birth of an animal, which is a regular process.
As per the March 31 report in 2025, the zoo has over 1,200 animals belonging to hundreds of species.
There are 157 recognised zoos in the country at present. PTI SUS RG
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