A keema cake for tigress Priya on her ninth birthday

This was the first time that the Katraj Zoo (as it’s more popularly known) authorities has had a birthday celebration for one of the animals. The 200-kg white tigress was brought to the city zoo in 2006 from Sanjay Gandhi National Park,Borivili,under an animal exchange programme. “The main aim behind this birthday celebration is to develop a bonding between the animals and their care-takers,” says Ashwini Shitole,education officer at the zoo.

For Tole,who is working as Priya’s caretaker since the past four years,it was a welcome change from his routine work at the zoo. “It was fun being part of the whole activity. We all were very enthusiastic about participating in all the planning and its implementation,” says Tole.

Priya was recently adopted by Abhijit Patil under Animal Adoption Scheme. Along with 70 zoo staff,it was an emotional moment for the Patil family too. The event was followed by an interactive session between the zoo officials and the care-takers. Later,a talk was given by Dr Rajkumar Jadhav,deputy director and in-charge of the zoo. The lecture aimed to educate caretakers of the animals on the importance of conservation of the endangered species,especially tigers. “The government is doing so much to save the tiger population. This is just a small effort on our part,” said Jadhav.

Looking at the birthday celebration success,the zoo officials plan to make it a regular item in their event calender,but only for the tigers at the zoo.