BENGALURU : The much-awaited dedicated leopard safari will soon start at Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP), the first in Karnataka and the biggest in India.
Even as Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre on Thursday directed the forest department and zoo management officials to start the leopard safari soon, on the lines of the already-existing BBP’s lion and tiger safaris, BBP officials said it depends on the time the leopards in the safari take to bond with each other and how fast they get trained. “If all goes well, the safari can be thrown open for people in one-and-a-half months. But if the model code of conduct (MCC) comes into force (for the Lok Sabha polls scheduled in April-May), then it will be open to people in May or after the MCC is lifted,” said an official from the department.
Training is necessary as officials are wary of the leopards not co-existing with each other, which was the case with the cheetahs brought from South Africa to the Kuno reserve in Madhya Pradesh.
BBP has carved out 20 hectares in its area for the safari. The management has set up a high-rise mesh and kept tall trees away from the fences, not wanting to give any room for the big cats to escape.
Leopard safaris, managed by zoo authorities, are already open in Nagpur in Maharashtra and Rajgir in Bihar, but the one at BBP is planned to be bigger than them.
Area has space to house 20 leopards, says BBP official
“Unlike tigers and lions, leopards are very agile and tricky to deal with. They find any possible route to escape. So all angles have been explored while creating the enclosure. The area has space to house 20 leopards, but right now there are 12, which are being made to get accustomed to each other, so there is no conflict between them. The leopards have divided themselves into two groups, with six in each. They need time to get along with each other,” said the official.
All the leopards that will be kept on display are aged under one, and have been hand-reared at the zoo. They are the rescued ones brought by forest department staffers or individuals from fields, when they were little cubs. According to records, there are 70 leopards in BBP, 19 tigers and 19 lions in the zoo.