Ranchi Zoo gets new inmates

Ranchi: With Christmas and holiday season beginning next week, hundreds of Ranchi residents are expected to visit the Birsa Biological Park to soak in the winter sun. This year, greeting the visitors will be a bunch of new inmates who have recently moved into the 220-acre complex. Born in the zoo during the 2023 Ram Navami, 18-month-old female leopard cub, Vaidehi, was growing up under the care of the zookeepers, away from public eyes. She was put into the leopard's enclosure last week, adding to the tally of the zoo's eight leopards.Speaking to TOI, zoo's vet Dr OP Sahu sai, "A mouse-deer brought from the Nandankanan Zoo in Odisha earlier this year has also been transferred to enclosure for public viewing. We have also acquired an ibis and a red heron from Nandankan. These birds are grabbing eyeballs." Besides the feathered guests and the little feline, the zoo complex is also abuzz with the chirping of ostrich chicks, which have recently hatched in the zoo. The zoo authorities have requested the Ahmedabad Zoo for a pair of Asiatic lions. "After discussions with our counterparts in Ahmedabad, the zoo management will seek clearance from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA)," Dr Sahu said. The zoo has only two lions — Shashank and Priyanka — after the death of lioness Jaya due to renal failure earlier this month. Earlier this year, the zoo officials has appealed for acquiring a pair of zebras from the Alipore Zoo in Kolkata but failed to obtain the clearances (under animal exchange programne) from the CZA.
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