7 wild dog pups born in Indira Gandhi park

Visakhapatnam: The conservation captive breeding of wild dogs at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park has touched a new high with the birth of seven wild dog pups last week. “The Central Zoo Authority had selected Vizag, Vandalur and Mysore Zoological parks as conservation breeding centre for wild dogs as each zoo is entrusted with a specific animal breeding centre. However, out of these, only Vizag is doing well,” claimed IGZP curator B. Vijay Kumar.

The number of wild dogs has reached 27 excluding the new pups, of which nine are female. The endangered wild dogs are in demand in most of the zoos in Asia owing to the animal’s excellent eyesight and hearing capacity. “The Vizag zoo would be more popular in the coming days due to demand of wild dogs from other zoos,” the curator said. In a new approach, the zoo would stimulate natural forest conditions to the wild dogs from November.

The Central Zoo authority has already sanctioned Rs 15 lakh for this project. “The purpose of the conservation and breeding of the wild animals is not only to keep them in the enclosure, but to release them to forest once they grow up. We are giving ready-to-eat boneless meat to the wild dogs. However, from the next season, we would give live prey to the animals at the off display unit built on the hilltop behind the zoo so that they would learn how to hunt and survive in the forest too,” the zoo head informed.

Tenders for zoo master plan from US, Singapore:

Two organisations from USA and Singapore have expressed interest in providing consultancy services for framing a master plan for the re-development of the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park. The World Bank has already sanctioned $6 million for the re-development of zoo under the AP Disaster Recovery Project (APDRP). According to sources, about 13 tender applications have been received by the forest department till Monday. The last date of submitting EoI is February 10. The forest department had extended the deadline after it received only one application for the master plan.

The organisation has to prepare a master plan for the re-development defining the vision and functional aspects with reference to existing structures and site conditions, area available, existing resources, animal population, animal health care, conservation, education and visitors experience, among others. The department would form a special committee to look into the re-development of zoo.