Old animals in Nainital zoo

Rare animals getting old in Nainital zoo
by Vipul Goel

Nainital: Ageing of rare animals in the zoological park in Nainital becomes a cause of concern for the authorities. The 'Bharat Ratna Govind Ballabh Pant High Altitude Zoo' is one of its kind, which provides safe haven to rare Himalayan black bears, snow leopards, and Siberian tigers and other high altitude fauna. Authorities are now concerned that the rare Siberian tigers, bears and leopards are now ageing and have thus asked central zoo authorities for new species. "Our Siberian tiger is almost 15 years old and its getting ere old. We lost recently one snow leopard and three years ago, we lost Siberian tiger also. So I wrote to central zoo authority through proper channels to get all these animals from other zoos. Central zoo authority also agrees to give us animals from other zoos," said Bajulal T.R, director, Bharat Ratna Govind Ballabh Pant High Altitude Zoo. Veterinary doctor says that special arrangements have been made and normal monitoring is done keeping in mind the age of animals "Some of our animals are ageing which means that they are crossing the age of 12-13 years. Average age of an animal is generally about 20 years. Special arrangements have been made for the ageing animals like they are given boneless meat. And multi-vitamins and anti-oxidants are mixed in their food," said L K Sanwal, veterinary doctor. The Zoo was established in 1984 with the objective of conserving and protecting the wild life and bio-diversity of the hill region of Uttarakhand. Spread over an area of 4.693 hectares, it houses some of the rare and endangered species of animals like Siberian tiger, Himalayan black bear, hill fox, palm civet cat, goral, silver pheasants, barking deer and sambhar deer. Utilizing the available topography and geography of the region, the authorities have developed appropriate facilities for animals and birds on the hilly sides of the location.
-August 25, 2009

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