Alipore Zoo gets pair of leopards from Bengal Safari Park

Kolkata: The leopard population in the Alipore Zoo has gone up as the zoo authorities have brought a pair of leopards from the Bengal Safari Park in Siliguri.

The animals that reached the zoo on Tuesday early morning will be in quarantine for a period of one month before being put in public view.

"We had only a solitary leopard

in the Alipore Zoo. It is around

18-year-old. We have brought a pair- a male and a female from Siliguri. Both of them are one-year-three month-old. They were recovered

from Katamari tea garden in North Bengal a year back and was then kept in Siliguri Safari Park," said Asis Kumar Samanta, director of Alipore Zoo.

The male one is named Sisir and the female Nayan.

"Both of them are keeping healthy. However, it will take at least three weeks for them to adjust to the climatic conditions. We hope to bring them before the visitors in the zoo in a month," he added.

The leopards when recovered were in a sickly condition and needed medical attention.

They were treated by veterinary physicians and were later kept at Safari Park. However, they were kept away from public view.

It may be mentioned that leopards were listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because its populations are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, and are declining in large areas of the global range.

The Alipore Zoo has set an example in captive breeding of a number of animals in recent years. Now, with the male and female leopard coming together the zoo is hopeful of augmenting the leopard population in the coming years.