City zoo to have a male Himalayan bear from Himachal Pradesh this summer

The National Zoological Park will have a new entrant this summer. A male Himalayan bear will be brought to the Delhi zoo from Himachal Pradesh and it will happen before Holi. 

The information was shared by public relation official Riyaz Khan. As per the officials of the zoological park, besides being a summer attraction for the visitors, the objective is to provide a mating  partner for the lone female Himalayan bear at the park.  

One of the senior officials said the female bear has now been without the partner for almost two years and there was a discussion to bring in a male partner as that would also enable breeding among the two mammals.

Besides the male Himalayan bear, zoo officials are also contemplating to bring in a male rhinoceros. 

In August 2014, the zoo officials had got a male rhino from Kanpur to bolster the breeding programme after Shiva, a rhino brought from Mumbai zoo, died of a secondary infection of organs caused by a tumor on its snout.

According to a zoo official, the authorities have been taking active steps to promote breeding amongst the mammals and have been reasonably successful at it. The official said that presently it is breeding time for birds and due to effective steps taken by the zoo like  placing in the nets on which they can lay their eggs  have been successful. The official cited examples of swans, owls, peahens producing new offsprings.

There are over 1,500 mammals at the zoological park which is a major attraction for visitors. 

With the summers approaching, preparations of protecting animal species from the heat have also begun. 

An official said: “We will be requiring about 150 coolers. While many of them will be repaired from the present inventory, some of them would also be purchased.”