New star at Siliguri's Safari Park: A Royal Bengal Tiger

Kolkata: The Bengal Safari Park in Siliguri is all set to woo visitors this winter with an added attraction. A Royal Bengal Tiger has been brought to the Park from Jamshedpur on Saturday. The three-and-a-half-year-old tiger is named Vivian and has been lodged at Tata Steel Zoological Park based in Jamshedpur since its birth.

As of now, there is a male tiger and a female one at the Park, which have been brought from Odisha's Nandankanan. "The new male tiger will spend first few days at a night shelter and will be quarantined. It will take some time for the animal to get acclimatised to the new environment. We hope that the quarantine process will take another three to four weeks and then it will be put in the enclosure of the Safari," a top official of the wildlife park said.

Four species of deer — spotted deer, chital, hog deer and sambar had reached the Park on Friday from Jamshedpur and Delhi, adding to the herbivore population of the park.

The state zoo authority had started the tiger safari at the park earlier this year after tigers Snehasish and Sheela, one male and another female were brought from Nandankanan Zoo in Odisha. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had officially inaugurated the Bengal Safari Park on January 22.

Apart from tigers, the park is having foot trail and visitors enjoy gharial pond, civet, jungle cat, red jungle fowl, mixed flying birds and exotic birds.

The authorities have already prepared a stretch of around 2 km inside the Park as a separate enclosure for leopards. The leopard safari is likely to start by early next year. The Safari Park is spread in an area of 297 hectares. It is developed in its natural habitat of Sal and its associated species. The Park presently has two safaris: mixed herbivore safari and tiger safari in which the visitors are taken in specially designed vehicles. The park is the first-of-its-kind in the region and is located 11 km from Siliguri off NH-31.