New kings on the prowl

Bengaluru: The Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) will soon have a new attraction for you – two white lions. This is the first time that an Indian zoo has put these exotic animals on display. The administrators, who feel that the popularity of the zoo is dipping, have planned to put more number of animals on display to attract visitors. Park Director Range Gowda told Deccan Chronicle, “White lions are part of a facelift programme for the zoo area of BBP where major attractions were missing. Besides white lions, we will also place a few tigers for the viewing public,” said the officer.

The white lions are a form of rare colour mutants and find their origin in African forests. Zoos worldwide, especially those in the United States and European countries, have white lions. The zoo, which is 25 km from the city, has around 1,500 mammals, birds and reptiles.

The Bannerghatta Zoo is getting ready to welcome its new inmates – a pair of white lions. An enclosure to house these lions is being built on the zoo premises and officials also working on measures to make zoo visits more informative and attractive for visitors. The Park officials are closely monitoring the talks between the donors and a foreign zoo regarding the purchase of white lions. Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) is forbidden to buy any animal on its own from other zoos or from the international market.

“However it’s possible that some of the donor can buy and gift the animal to the zoo. The BBP is currently undergoing Master Plan which was being planned for sometime. And there will be many more new additions to Bannerghatta zoo,” said Range Gowda, the Director of the Park. Park officials do admit that the visitors are unhappy with what BBP has on offer and often feel let down after braving the busy Bannerghatta Road traffic. “There were complaints from the visitors that there are fewer attractions in the zoo area and to see the tigers one has to pay extra amount and travel in safari vans. Most of the visitors here compare BBP with Mysore zoo, which good collection of animals. Hence it was decided to bring in more animals to the zoo area. Besides creating an enclosure for white lions we are also bring royal Bengal tigers and a pair of elephants,” Gowda added.

The authorities are also building a new water pond for the hippopotamuses and the pond which currently houses them will have aquatic birds. The park is also constructing an enclosure for the tigers so that the visitors to the zoo area could get a chance to see it, without going for a safari.

Gowda said that apart from adding new animals, the zoo authorities are also ensuring that solid waste and plastic pollution was under control. “We are discouraging carrying plastic materials in the safari vans and the same rule will be applied for zoo premises. We are removing the present eateries from the zoo premises and they will be relocated at the visitors’ entry area,” the Director added.