New Delhi: At least 11 fully-grown sandalwood trees have been stolen from the Delhi zoo premises, indicating a major loophole in security arrangements at the facility, official sources said on Friday. Zoo Director Akansha Mahajan did not respond to requests for a comment.
The incident comes around two months after feral dogs jumped into the zoo’s compound and mauled three deer, including two endangered ones, to death.
A source in the zoo said around eight unidentified armed men entered the zoo premises by cutting the barbed wire fencing atop the boundary wall with Sunder Nursery in the early hours Thursday.
“The men cut down fully-grown trees near the director’s residence and eight trees in a portion of Azimganj Sarai that falls in the forests of the Delhi zoo,” the source said.
The trees were planted around 30-35 years ago.
Only four to five of them are left now.