BHUBANESWAR: Strange are the affairs at the Nandankanan Zoological Park here. In March, when the State’s premier animal park authorities received four gharials from Lucknow’s Nawab Wazid Ali Shah Zoological Garden, the former was at their wit’s end. For, the zoo authorities had asked for two of the snouted crocodiles but got two more in ‘bonus’. Bizarre yet true.
Animal exchange programmes of all zoos are approved by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA). As per the approved exchange programme, Lucknow was to give two pairs of Painted storks, five swamp deer and two male adult gharials and receive three sloth bears in the male-female ratio of 2:1 from the City zoo. The Lucknow zoo received its package but Nandankanan got a raw deal.
The exchange programme of Nandankanan authorities was aimed at getting male gharials of breedable age because its current stock of males is dwindling due to reasons even the zoo authorities are not aware of. The breeding age of gharials, a Schedule-I animal, is defined by their length and growth of the snouts. What they received were four sub-adults.
Interesting as it may sound, the zoo management had no clue that they were being given such a deal till they saw the stock. Sources said, it is only when they saw the crocodiles that they realised things have gone wrong. By that time, the Lucknow zoo authorities had already taken the three sloth bears, leaving no leverage for Nandankanan management.
Matters came to light when the CZA detected the anomaly in the stock register which zoos have to maintain. In his letter, Member Secretary Dr DN Singh sought to know about the discrepancy.
“The technical committee of CZA in its 80th meeting held on November 4, 2016 approved acquisition of 2 gharials from Nawab Wazid Ali Shah Zoological Garden, Lucknow. However, in the annual report, the number is mentioned as 4,” Singh’s letter said.
Contacted, Director of Nandankanan Zoo Sisir Acharya admitted that the exchange had gone wrong. “We wanted to boost population of gharials for which we wanted male gharials of breeding age but were cheated in the deal. I took up the matter with the Lucknow Zoo when I found about it,” he told this paper.
The Zoo, in its reply to CZA, stated that apparently the Lucknow zoo did not have adult gharials to spare and when its team reached UP Capital, animals from Nandankanan were already taken by officials of Nawab Wazid Ali Shah Zoological Garden.
Since the proforma of exchange of animals sent by Nawab Wazid Ali Shah Zoological Garden was not forwarded to Nandankanan, the reply said, the latter was not able to ascertain why they got two more. “It may be one of the reasons why the Lucknow zoo handed over two additional sub-adult gharials to hide the facts of their difficulties,” the letter said.This also meant that the Nandankanan authorities did not make a stock-taking at the Lucknow zoo before the exchange was carried out.