Visitors to the Mysuru zoo can get to see a new attraction – orangutans.
Two pairs of orangutans that were brought to the zoo from Singapore and Malaysia can now be seen as the zoo management has put them for public viewing for the first time since their arrival in August this year.
Bank Note Paper Mill India, Mysuru (BNPM) contributed a sum of ₹70 lakh under its CSR initiative for constructing the enclosure for orangutans. The construction was completed recently. The inauguration of the enclosure and public viewing of the animals was done on Wednesday.
Tripti Patra Ghosh, Chairperson, BNPM, and CMD, Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), formally inaugurated the Orangutan house and the viewing of animals in the presence of Zoo Authority of Karnataka Member Secretary B.P. Ravi, Zoo Executive Director Ajit Kulkarni, Chairperson Mahadevaswamy and directors and senior officials from the Bank Note Paper Mill India.
The zoo management has thanked the BNPM for its concern towards the conservation of the endangered great apes.
Under an animal exchange deal, 17-year-old male, Merlin, and 13-year-old female, Atina, arrived from Singapore zoo while five-year-old male, Afa, and the 7-year-old female, Minnie, were brought from Malaysia. In return, the Mysuru zoo has given two pairs of giraffes. The last time the zoo displayed orangutans, according to records, was in the 70s and the zoo authorities’ best efforts thereafter to get an orangutan pair did not materialise.
The zoo also got two male gorillas and they are expected to be put on public display soon as the construction of the enclosure with funds from the Infosys Foundation is almost complete. “We hope to inaugurate the enclosure and public display of gorillas next month. Sudha Murthy has generously contributed from the Foundation for the construction of the gorilla house. The zoo management expresses its gratitude for making it happen,” said the zoo director.
The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA)-Gorilla European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) spared the gorillas, thanks to the zoo’s persistent and long-drawn correspondence with it. The 14-year-old Thabo and 8-year-old Demba were brought to the zoo on August 19 from Germany and are currently in quarantine.
This comes after the death of Polo, the Western Lowland gorilla, in 2014. Polo was gifted to Mysuru zoo by the Dublin zoo in 1995. It passed away after having lived without a companion for 18 years even though the zoo tried to bring him a mate under animal exchange programmes from abroad.
