Hyderabad, October 17: A pair of “pure-bred” Asiatic lions, now housed in Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad will head east once the central zoo authorities show the green light.
The city zoo currently has about 10 hybrid lions.
“We have signed a deal with the Hyderabad zoo. Central experts will now look into different aspects of the proposed shift, including whether Asiatic lions will be comfortable in our zoo. Once the experts are happy, we can get the lions,” said Raju Das, the director of Alipore zoo.
The zoo is likely to hand over giraffes or Bhutanese pheasants in exchange for the Asiatic lions.
Officials of the two zoos brokered the deal after comparing their excess lists — a catalogue of animals that were in excess at a zoo and thus, available for exchange — in Hyderabad last week.
Asiatic lions, which are also known as Indian lions, are critically endangered according to international wildlife conservation organisation IUCN and can only be found in Gujarat’s Gir forest. They are smaller than their African counterparts, but just as aggressive. Hybrid lions have genetic traits of both Asiatic and African lions.
Asiatic lions can also be seen at Hyderabad, New Delhi, Junagarh, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Mysore, Chennai and Bhopal zoos and at Nandankanan near Bhubaneswar and MC Zoological Park in Punjab.
According to experts, the Alipore zoo does not have the infrastructure to house pure- bred Asiatic lions.
Sources in the zoo said enclosures much larger than the 30ft x 30ft ones housing the hybrid lions would be required for the Asiatic lions. There should also be water body in the enclosure for the animals to relax.
The zoo authorities also plan to construct larger enclosures for tigers, reptiles, water birds, crocodiles and hippopotamuses.
“This will be a part of the first phase of revamp at the zoo. A part of the funds is likely to come from the Centre. The security system has already been upgraded. But unless the enclosures are re-laid, we can’t bring the lions,” said a source.
-Agencies