RANCHI: Birsa Zoological Park in Ranchi will very soon welcome two new inmates -- Royal Bengal Tiger and a White Tiger brought in an exchange with three Ostriches, found in plenty here, with Kanan Pendari Zoological Garden at Bilashpur in Chhattisgarh.
Senior forest officials confirmed that all formalities have been completed and exchange is likely to take place very soon in the last week of June.
"As we have cleared all formalities in this regard and permission from the Central Zoo Authority has already been taken, the exchange is likely to take place latest by June 30 ," said Principal Chief Conservator (Wild Life) LR Singh.
As per the deal, Ranchi Zoo will get one Royal Bengal Tiger and a White Tiger against one male and two female ostriches from Bilashpur Zoo, he added. Terming the deal quite profitable, Singh said that Ostriches have outnumbered here as they are provided an environment for natural hatching.
"Ostriches which cannot breed in captivity, their number have been continuously increasing at Birsa Zoo and they are hatching third time since they were brought here," said the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) - Wild Life.
Presently there are 12 Ostriches, which has become center of attraction for the people, especially children, visiting the Zoo, he added. Singh further said that Birsa Zoo in a way has mastered the art of multiplying Ostriches with natural hatching and has also developed protocol for natural hatching of Ostrich egg, which is quite unusual for any other zoo in the Country.
According to Singh, since the number of the birds has become more than required, the offer of getting new inmates in exchange of outnumbering Ostriches was readily accepted by the authorities.
"Exchange of Ostriches with Tigers is really a good deal as for us as we have a plenty of them here in Birsa Zoo which is further multiplying day by day," said the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests.
Standard operating procedures and transportation protocol has to be followed while transportation of animals during such exchange programmes, he added.
"Very soon a team, accompanied by a veterinary doctor, will leave for Bilashpur with Ostriches and will return with the tigers in the same cage vehicle," said Singh.
Ranchi Zoo currently has six tigers (3 adult and 3 cubs) but none of them is White and a white tiger will be an added attraction for the visitors.
"Once the process gets completed, Ranchi zoo will have added attraction in the form of White tiger for the visitors as only Tata Zoo in Jamshedpur has this unique species," said Singh. Earlier also, the Zoo had received hippos from Nandankanan Zoological Park, Bhubaneswar in Odisha and few more species time to time.
Birsa Zoological Park, an eventful place located in the lap of nature, is spread over the area of 14 hectares of land on the excursion of Ranchi and is comprised of two halves - one is Zoological Park while the other half is Botanical Park.
The larger area is dedicated for the enclosure s of animals while a small area has been given to rare species of plants and animals.