Celibate Shiva embarks on 4-day journey to join his mates in Delhi

Two virgin female rhinoceroses — Mageshwari (18) and Anjuga (8) — now in heat,are awaiting Shiva’s arrival.

Delhi zoo officials are sparing no expenses to make their new inmate feel at home. A one-acre habitat has been prepared for Shiva and his mates and officials feel the Mumbai bull would find his new home comfortable.

The two female rhinoceros,weigh 200 kg less than Shiva. The Mumbai bull weighs a healthy 900 kg,officials said. Shiva’s favourite diet —50 kg bananas and 10 kg sugarcane — has been stocked for the four-day journey. This,officials said,is a “restricted diet” as he needs to travel light.

“With everyone’s good wishes,Shiva,who has been lonely for so long,will finally mate and have children. We will send the offspring to Mumbai so that the metropolis can once again have a rhinoceros,” Panneer Selvam,Veterinary officer,National Zoological Park,and in-charge of escorting Shiva to New Delhi,said.

“Zoos exchange animals across the country,so we should be receiving his children soon. We are developing our enclosures for this but it will take some time,” Anil Anjankar,zoo director,VJB Zoo,said.

To create synergy between the two zoos,a Kaziranga swamp deer is expected to be come to Mumbai in place of Shiva.

While officials are jubilant that the endangered bull will finally get to mate,they speculate that it might still take an estimated five to six months before Shiva mingles with his female counterparts. Also,once he reaches Delhi,Shiva will have to undergo quarantine for a month to ensure he adjusts with the new environment.

“When he is declared free of any infections,we will put him in a cage next to Mageshwari and Anjuga and allow the rhinos to get accustomed to each other. Once they are comfortable,we will release them together,” Selvam said.

The “rhino on a mate journey” has cost the Delhi Zoo Rs 2 lakh,with Shiva’s reluctance to enter the transit cage considerably escalating the project cost from the initial budget.

“We arrived here on August 12 and the transit cage was set up the next day. But it was only today at 10.30 am that he finally entered the cage. It has increased our costs but this sum does not come close to Shiva’s worth,” Selvam said,adding that the Mumbai-bred bull is roughly worth Rs 1 crore. Veterinarians from both the zoos checked the mammal before they cleared his journey.

Shiva’s oldest caretakers Ramesh Pawar (51),and Ravindra Nivaidya (52),who have nurtured him since 1986,said food and water had to be shifted to the cage to lure the animal.

“He would always respond to us when we call him,even from 10 feet away. We have tended to him from such close quarters for the last 28 years and it will take us a while to adjust to his absence,” a teary-eyed Nivaidya said.