BHUBANESWAR: Amid reports of some visitors attempting to catch a glimpse of the rescued orangutan infants kept at the Centre for Rearing of Animal Babies at the Nandankanan Zoological Park, the zoo management on Tuesday clarified that no visitor is allowed to see the baby apes.
Sources said some visitors, out of curiosity, are moving towards the area of the zoo where the baby orangutans are under care in quarantine. Many who were earlier unaware of the road leading to the centre where the orangutans are kept, are now visiting it in hopes of learning more about the new guests.
Zoo deputy director Pradeep Mirase, however, clarified that the baby apes have been kept under strict quarantine and people, including Nandankanan staff and officials, except a few caretakers, veterinary officers and experts, are completely restricted from visiting the facility.
He said the visitors are allowed to see only those inmates kept in the enclosures meant for display. Mirase informed that the infants are stable now and under constant health monitoring. To reduce stress, the zoo has also proposed the technical committee to shift them to bigger open space enclosure.
On the day, the technical committee formed by the PCCF Wildlife visited the hand-rearing centre of NZP to assess the condition and care of the five orangutan infants. The committee comprised Dr Sashidhar and Dr Madan from Mysore zoo, and Dr Aditya Acharya from the CWH, OUAT.