Gujarat seeks Central funds for Sakkarbaug Zoo

The Chennai conference, held in the backdrop of the recent Nandankanan Zoo tragedy in Orissa, deliberated on how to maintain hygienic conditions and implement effectively the animal health management in zoos. The meet was attended, among others, by Union Forest and Environment Minister T Balu, senior forest officials and wildlife experts and veterinarians.

Gujarat Chief Wildlife Warden G A Patel, who attended the meet, told The Indian Express that he had sought the allocation of more funds from the CZA officials for better functioning of the Sakkarbaug Zoo, when they insisted that concerted efforts be mounted by States to avoid another Nandankanan-like tragic episode.

Patel said, “We have a meagre budget of Rs 70 lakh to maintain the historical Sakkarbaug Zoo, which the CZA can raise to at least Rs 2 crore to meet the expenditure on, among other things, the zoo staff and animal keepers. The Forest Department proposes to create one more post of veterinary doctor in addition to the existing one, besides the number of trained animal keepers is proposed to be increased and a full-time curator appointed.”

State Forest and Environment Minister Kanjibhai Patel, accompanied by the Chief Wildlife Warden, is scheduled to visit the Sakkarbaug Zoo on Sunday to take stock of the situation. The zoo maintains the predator species that inhabit the Gir Forest like, lions, panthers, crocodile, besides prey species such as spotted deer, sambar, nilgai, four-horned antelope and chinkara.

The zoo, one of the oldest in India and established in 1863 by the erstwhile Nawab of Junagadh Mahobatkhanji Babi-II, is the only breeding centre for Asiatic lions recognised the world over. The zoo is also renowned for the breeding of other highly endangered species of wild animals, like the Indian wild ass, Indian wolf and four-horned anteleope.

Patel said the recommendations made at the Chennai meet included the setting up of a national institute of wildlife health on the lines of the National Wildlife Health Centre in the USA, besides providing Internet connectivity to all veterinary and medical practitioners in zoos across the country.

It was also recommended that the latest diagnostic kits (Dot ELISA) now available in Western countries and the USA be imported and provided to the veterinary institutes attached to the zoos. To ensure better performance, the zoo veterinary officers service structure should be made at par with officers of all-India services.

The conference recommended that wet blood film/blood smear examination and recording of daily temperature be done between June and November every year due to abundance of vector flies immediately after the onset of monsoons. Physiological, haemotological and bio-chemical profiles and haemograms should be conducted wherever and whenever possible. Moreover, the veterinary institutes should have modern diagnostic facilities and tools for investigation and diagnosis of wildlife diseases.