One of the silver linings amid the devastating 2006 floods in Surat was the finding of a pair of otters in the floodwaters. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The Surat Municipal Corporation-run Dr Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Zoological Garden (Nature Park and Zoo) will get a pair of Bengal tigers from Odisha’s Nandankanan Zoological Park in exchange for smooth-coated otters.
One of the silver linings amid the devastating 2006 floods in Surat was the finding of a pair of otters in the floodwaters. Since then, this municipal zoo in the Sarthana area has seen captive breeding of this species of otters, taking the numbers up to 61 to become the only zoo in the country reporting such an event.
Wildlife Superintendent Dr Rajesh Patel told The Indian Express, “Presently we have 36 otters, which includes 21 puppies (8 females and 13 males) and 15 adults (nine males and six females). In the last two years, 21 puppies were born in our captive breeding centre.”
“There is no captive breeding centre of Otter across the country, and we have success stories of it. We acquired a pair of otters during the 2006 Surat floods from the waters, which were spotted by a passerby who intimated us. We rescued them and brought them to our nature park, where we took good care of them. After one year, we again got an adult female otter from some part of Surat city. We had three otters, two females and a male,” Patel said.
“We noted down all their behavioural patterns and researched their breeding. After two years, these otters had become habituated to the conditions at our location, and they started breeding in 2008-09 onwards. Over the course of years, we have delivered otters to zoos across the country under the animal exchange programme,” he added.
The zoo will soon receive a pair of Bengal tigers in exchange for smooth-coated otters from the Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar. Last year, the zoo gave away an otter each to the Rajkot zoo and to the ChatBir zoo in Chandigarh in exchange for other animals.
Central Zoo Authority accepts proposal
The Central Zoo Authority, which falls under the Ministry of Environment and Forest, had sent a letter a couple of days ago to Gujarat’s chief wildlife warden, accepting the proposal for the exchange of animals, including the Bengal tiger, against the otters. The letter was forwarded to the in-charge wildlife superintendent at Nature’s Park and Zoo, which is run by the municipal corporation.
As per the deal, the Surat Nature Park will deliver five otters (three males, two females), Indian grey wolf (two males), Indian star tortoise (five males, five females), silver pheasant (one male, one female) to Nandankanan Zoological Park, and in return will get a heterogenous pair of Bengal tigers, Indian grey wolf (two females), four-horned antelopes (one male, two females), barking deer (two females) and Indian jackal (two males, three females).
Sources in the Surat Nature Park stated that the zoo had a pair of white tigers. The park will get an adult male and female tiger each in exchange for the five otters.
Patel further said, “We have a pair of white tigers which have high display demand. The white tiger was brought from the Rajkot zoo in 2021. The royal Bengal tiger is an endangered species and has its own importance. We have enough space to keep the pair of tigers once delivered from the Nandankanan Zoo. These pairs are adults around five years old. Once they settle here, we will work on their breeding and are hopeful to get more cubs at our zoo.”
“We have got an approval letter from the Central Zoo Authority. We have now started working on making the documentation of the animals to be delivered and are working on the logistical aspects,” he added.
