NEW DELHI: Delhi will get three lions for breeding purposes from Gujarat under an animal exchange programme, officials said on Tuesday. "The Central Zoo Authority has approved the proposal to bring one lion and two lionesses from Kevadia and Sakkarbaug in Gujarat," Delhi Zoo Director Ramesh Pandey said.
In return, Delhi will give two hippopotamuses to the western state.
Another animal exchange with the Gorewada zoo in Nagpur is in the works. As part of it, Delhi will get two tigers, Pandey said. The capital will also receive a pair of sloth bears from the Nagpur facility.
Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Chennai is likely to provide a male tiger to Delhi, the director said. A Bengal tigress was brought from Kanpur for breeding purposes in November last year. The Delhi zoo is a participating zoo for the "Conservation Breeding Programme" of the Bengal Tiger.
According to the Central Zoo Authority, the Conservation Breeding Programme is the science of conserving a species by preventing imminent population collapse in the wild due to a large number of eliminative pressures such as habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, industrialization, poaching, illegal trade and climate change.
At present, the Delhi zoo has five white tigers - three males and two females, a pair each of Bengal tigers and lions.
A seven-year-old lion had died in May apparently after a prolonged illness.
Also, five species, including star tortoise, dhole (wild dogs) and iguana will be brought from the Visakhapatnam zoo, Pandey said.
Delhi had got an Ostrich from the Chhatbir zoo in Chandigarh around four months ago. No animal exchange programme has been conducted since then due to the Covid pandemic.
The Delhi zoo will reopen on August 1 after remaining shut since April 15 due to a surge in coronavirus cases during the second wave.
According to Pandey, the zoo recorded only 124 animal deaths, the lowest in the last three years, when it remained closed to the public in 2020-21 due to the coronavirus pandemic and bird flu.
There are 94 species and 1,162 animals in the zoo at present. "We are moving towards having 100 species soon," he said.
