Ostriches outnumbering other inmates very fast at Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park in Ranchi cannot hide their faces any longer and would have to make way for some royal guests from neighbourhood.
And happily, for the visitors of the animal abode that has been a centre of attraction for residents not only from Ranchi but other parts of the State, would very soon find a majestic Royal Bengal tiger as well as a white tiger at the cost of some members of the big birds’ family.
The change of demography at the Birsa Zoo is on the cards after approval of animal exchange proposal sent to the officials to the Central Zoo Authority. As per the decision, one male and two female Ostriches of the zoo at Ormanjhi would be relocated to Bilaspur zoo and would get the pair of big cats in return.
The approval letter dated April 2 says, “The proposal for exchange of animals between the Kanan Pendari Zoological Garden, Bilashpur, Chhattisgarh and the Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park, Ranchi, Jharkhand received from the zoos was placed before the Technical Committee of the Central Zoo Authority in its 85th meeting held on March 23 last.
The Committee has approved the exchange of animals.”
Currently, the Zoo has three tigers but none of them are White Tiger. Expressing his pleasure over the decision, State Chief Wildlife Warden lR Singh said that the request in this regard to the Central Zoo Authority had been made in September last year.
“The Central Zoo Authority has approved our proposal for the exchange of Ostriches with one White Tiger and one Royal Bengal Tiger.
The pair of tigers would be brought here from Bilaspur zoo. Once the exchange process is completed, Ranchi zoo will have added attraction in the form of White tiger for visitors for the first time,” said the Chief Wildlife Warden on Tuesday. Only Tata Zoo of Jamshedpur houses the unique specie in the State.
The Birsa Zoo in a way has also scored a distinction among other zoos of the country by mastering the art of multiplying Ostriches with natural hatching. “We have developed protocol for natural hatching of Ostrich eggs which is very uncommon in other zoos of India.
With the effort, the Zoo has now 14 Ostriches. Since the number of the birds was more than required and we had the offer to get some new inmates here in lieu of them, we went for it. Exchange of Ostriches with Tigers is a very good exchange for us,” added the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest.
Though the Authority has approved the proposal with certain riders such as prior screening is to be done of the animals about zoonotic diseases and presence of parasites into them, they would have to undergo minimum three weeks of quarantine period in veterinary’s observation before mixing with others etc.
“These are the standard operating procedures involved in such exchange programmes. Well defined transportation protocols and animal’s health history cards and marking identification about species are there.
Both the zoos involved have to abide by that,” said lR Singh expecting arrival in couple of months. Earlier also, the Zoo had received hippos from Nandankanan Zoological Park, Bhubaneswar in Odisha and few more species time to time.