Shiva leaves for Delhi; his progeny to come back to city zoo

This is the first time Shiva will leave the city since 1985. He was brought to the zoo from Assam 28 years ago at the age of six.

The Mumbai bull weighs 900 kg. With his favourite food — 50 kg of bananas and 10 kg of sugarcane — stocked for the four day journey,officials say he should reach healthy.

Officials confirm this is a ‘restricted diet’ as he needs to travel light. “Shiva,who has been lonely for so long,will finally mate and have children. We will send them to Mumbai so the city can have a rhinoceros,” said Panneer Selvam,veterinary officer,National Zoological Park. He is in-charge of escorting Shiva to New Delhi.

“Zoos exchange animals across the country and we will be sent Shiva’s offspring. We are developing our enclosures for this,” said Anil Anjankar,director,Byculla Zoo. A Kaziranga swamp deer is expected to be exchanged in place of Shiva.

While officials are jubilant that the endangered bull will finally get a mate,they speculate it might take an five to six months before the male rhino mingles with his female counterparts.

Once he reaches New Delhi,he will be quarantined for a month to ensure he adjusts to 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. After they are comfortable,we will release them together,” Selvan said.

The cost of the journey has been Rs 2 lakh,which is being borne by the Delhi zoo. Shiva’s reluctance to enter the transit cage considerably escalated the cost.

“We arrived here on August 12 night. The transit cage was set up the next day,but it was only at 10.30 am Sunday that he he finally entered the cage,” Selvan said.

Veterinarians from both the zoos checked the mammal before they cleared him for the journey.

On Sunday,when Shiva finally entered the wood-bound 11x 6 x 6 ft transit cage,which he had been evading for the past four days,his caretakers cheered.

Shiva’s oldest caretakers,Ramesh Pawar (51) and Ravindra Nivaidya (52),who have nurtured and tended to him since 1986,said all food and water had to be shifted to the cage to lure him. “He is very stubborn. Initially,he resisted and sat in his pond for hours,but in the end he had to eat,” said Pawar.

“He would come to us even when we called him from 100 ft away. We have tended to him from such close quarters for the last 28 years and it is going to take time to adjust to his absence,” said a teary Nivaidya.

Shiva grunted and stomped inside the cage for over four hours.

“It will take him six to eight hours to settle down. When we’re on the road,I am sure he will enjoy the cool breeze and the movement. We are not tranquilising him; we will feed him regular meals,” said Selvan,who has been in-charge of transporting various animals between zoos for the past 22 years.

“I can understand the animal’s psychology. Also,we have experienced keepers. Animals should always be kept in pairs,”he said.