Two peafowls and four hog deer, including two females, will soon be coming to Maharajbag Zoo from Kanan Pendhri Zoological Garden in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh.
In response to a proposal sent by the zoo regarding the acquisition of animals, member secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Sanjay Kumar Shukla, wrote to the official in charge of Maharajbag Zoo on November 23 and stated that the shifting of animals was contingent upon the zoo submitting its master plan to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) after complying with the conditions set forth by the authority.
Maharajbag Zoo’s in-charge officer Dr. Sunil Bawaskar stated that the exchange of two peafowls and four hog deer was part of the program. Bilaspur zoo officials declined Maharajbagh Zoo’s offer to donate one leopard and a few other animals, saying that they were currently insufficiently resourced. On November 21, Maharajbag sent its proposals to CZA, he continued.
The hog deer will be the new addition to the zoo. The Indian hog deer (Axis porcinus) is a small deer native to the Indo-Gangetic Plain in Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, Bangladesh to main- land Southeast Asia.
It also occurs in western Thailand, and is possibly extirpated from China (south-western Yunnan Province), Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. The animal is endangered as the population is decreasing.
