BHUBANESWAR: After waiting for nearly eight months, the Nandankanan zoo will soon welcome two new guests - a pair of giraffes, which will be brought from the Zoological Garden, Alipore in Kolkata.
Currently, the zoo has one female giraffe, Khushi, brought from the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park in Patna way back in 2012. Khushi has been alone in the giraffe enclosure for the last eight years after death of a six-year-old male giraffe, Joy, brought from Alipore zoo in 2016.
A Nandankanan official said necessary approval from Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has already been received for the animal exchange programme and the two giraffes are most likely to be brought by the end of this month.
In return, Nandankanan will send a pair of Asiatic lions to Alipore zoo. The Forest department had planned to bring giraffes in January this year. However, the plan was delayed due to pending approvals, sources said. NZP officials said, the animal exchange programme is being carried out in view of surplus population and breeding of different wildlife species.
The zoo is also making efforts to bring new species and infuse new bloodline. Accordingly, a female royal Bengal tiger will also be exchanged with the Alipore zoo for a pair of fishing cats. Nandankanan will also give a pair of hippopotamus and bring six water monitor lizards, two males and four females from Alipore.Four pairs of green iguana and a pair of Eurasian spoonbills will also be brought in exchange of other species including Himalayan black deer, swamp deer etc.