AP wakes up to need for zoo advisory panels

A file gathering dust in the office of the Minister for Forests C.H. Ayyanna Patrudu for the last eight years has been cleared hurriedly, and yesterday, the government constituted three ZACs for the three zoos in Andhra Pradesh.

As an advisory body, the ZAC is expected to meet regularly and make recommendations to the state government on welfare of zoo animals and policy matters. Its recommendations are, however, not binding on the state government.

The panels were set up last in 1989 when G. Muddukrishnama Naidu was the Minister for Forests. Their terms expired in 1992. Since then, the ZACs have not been reconstituted.

The term of each of these advisory committees is two years and they comprise 14 to 15 members. They include officials and non-officials, with Ayyanna Patrudu heading them all. Wildlife expert Pushpa Kumar Mathur is also a member of these committees.

The officials on these committees include principal secretaries of Finance, Environment, Forests and Science and Technology ministries, plus principal chief conservator of forests and curators of the respective zoos. A reporter from a local daily has also been made member of the ZAC for the Nehru Zoological Park where the tigress Sakhi was killed last week.