Thursday, Jul 30, 2020 12:45 [IST]
Last Update: Thursday, Jul 30, 2020 07:02 [IST]
Our Correspondent
DARJEELING: Even as normal life seems to be affected by the Covid outbreak, Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP) here recently welcomed three new members in the form of blue sheep.
“One blue sheep was born in Kurseong on Monday. It is healthy and has been kept at the enclosure there. We are yet to name it,” said PNHZP director Dharamdeo Rai.
Apart from this, a male fawn was born at the Darjeeling satellite zoo in Kurseong and a female fawn was also born there on June 26. The Kurseong zoo located at Dowhill is part of the PNHZP.
The PNHZP staff stated that the health condition of the three newly born were fine and have been kept with their mother. “The fawns will continue to have breast milk and after three to four months they will start eating green fodder,” they added.
The blue sheep also known as Bharal is a Schedule-I species under the Wildlife Protection Act and a part of the PNHZP conservation breeding programmes along with different endangered Himalayan species.
Presently, breeding programmes for animals like the red panda, snow leopard and the Tibetan wolf is going on successfully at PNHZP with breeding of rare and endangered species like the Himalayan Thar, Himalayan Monal, Red Jungle fowl and the Himalayan newts (salamander) also being carried out among others.
Even though the captive breeding program started there in the mid 80's, the PNHZP started the breeding program of the Blue Sheep around 2009 only. It was in that year that they brought two pairs of Blue Sheep from the Okinawa zoo in Japan for the conservation breeding programme.