MANGALURU: When six-year-old Kaveri joined the big animal family in Pilikula Biological Park a few days ago, there was celebration all round. On her way from Bengaluru’s Bannerghatta Biological Park to the Mangaluru zoo, this young hippopotamus was doused in water at three stops, with special water points created for her.
It’s perhaps this attention to detail that led a makeshift deer park to grow in 15 years into one of the state’s biggest zoos. The Pilikula Biological Park today stands on equal footing with the Bannerghatta and Mysuru zoos, despite not enjoying royal patronage or government funding.
Nestling in the foothills of the Western Ghats, Pilikula gets its name from Tulu words, ‘Pili’ meaning tiger and ‘Kula’, pond. Managed by the Pilikula Nisarga Dhama Society (PNDS) and surviving on funding mainly from CSR initiatives, gate collections and adoption of animals, the zoo is now recognised as one of the best maintained ones in the state.
“We owe it to the people of Dakshina Kannada district. They patronised us, interacted with us and also helped us with local inputs for the development of this biological park. Also, the corporates functioning in Mangaluru played a big role,” said MLA J R Lobo, who was the first executive director of the PNDS and also then Commissioner of the Mangaluru City Corporation.
The PNDS has been able to recreate in the last 15 years both a tiger habitat and water body. It has achieved success in breeding tigers too, making it the hub of an active tiger exchange programme. “We have successfully bred many tigers in the last nine years and helped Karnataka and South India increase the stock of tigers in captivity by having an active exchange programme with other zoos. This has helped the country in preventing in-breeding,” said Jayaprakash Bhandary, director of the park.
Pilikula has over 1,200 animals and birds belonging to 125 species and at least 10 per cent of its animal population is reserved for exotic species. Two elephants, Durgaparameshwari and Prashanta, are now regulars at the annual Jamboo Savari in Mysuru. They were first assigned to the Pilikula Nisarga Dhama in 2009 and stayed here till 2013 when they were summoned by the Dasara Jamboo Savari committee that year.
Pilikula is also the country’s first king cobra breeding centre, which was initiated with the help of snake expert Romulus Whitaker.
“The most important aspect of the Pilikula Zoo is its annual event on wildlife for schoolchildren. When I saw a king cobra from close quarters, it hissed away. I cannot forget that sight,” said Rajeshwari Aithal, a teacher from Buntwal who had brought schoolchildren to take part in the wildlife workshop.
The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has already approved the master plan and the layout plan of Pilikula in addition to renewal of its licence till 2020. The CZA grants adequate funding for developing infrastructure in the zoo. Even a green fodder farm was put in place this year to feed the herbivores.
