Alipore zoo to get 4 anacondas by April

Kolkata: The Zoological Garden in Alipore will have an added attraction as they sought to bring in four anacondas in April. The reptiles will be procured through an exchange programme with Madras Crocodile Bank Trust – a reptile zoo and herpetology research station, located 40 kilometres south of the city of Chennai.

"We have got the nod of the Central Zoo Authority for procuring these snakes. But as winter has set in and snakes have gone into hibernation, we are waiting for the winter to pass. We will bring them in March and hope to set them free in their respective enclosures after quarantine in April," director of Alipore Zoo, Asis Samanta said.

It is learnt that as part of the exchange programme, the city zoo will be sending four Branded Krait (popularly known as Sankhamuti) and four Cobras (popularly known as Keute) to Madras. However, the city zoo is yet to get the approval of CZA in this regard.

Meanwhile, the zoo authorities on Thursday set free four grey kangaroos, a pair of jaguars, a pair of Asiatic lions and six mouse deer in their respective enclosures on Friday. State Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim and state Forest minister Binay Krishna Burman were present in the Zoo at the time of the release of these animals." "It will surely add to the attraction of the zoo with the winter setting in," Hakim said. The animals that were set free were brought to the zoo from Nehru Zoological Garden in Hyderabad a month back and were in quarantine. The Alipore zoo authorities got these animals following an exchange programme with the Hyderabad zoo and in place handed them with a pair of giraffe and a couple of salt water crocodiles.

It may be mentioned that the last female jaguar had died in Alipore zoo in 2013 after a prolonged illness. The four grey kangaroos were brought from Japan's Yokohama zoo.

The last kangaroo in the zoo, a red one, had died in October 2015. In 2011, Alipore zoo had procured four red kangaroos from the Czech Republic, all of which died by 2012. A female among them had given birth to a joey before her death, which died later in October 2015.