Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoo will receive new animals under animal exchange programme of Central Zoo Authority (CZA) soon. Two striped hyenas, two sloth bears and two grey wolves will be brought from Jaipur Zoo to Nagpur within a month.
“We got the clearance from CZA for this exchange. We are sending two tigers there andin reply these six animals will arrive in our zoo. We are incon- tact with Jaipur Zoo administration and the exchange process will take place in a month,” Shatnik Bhagwat, Zoo Director said.
As per the sources, Maharajbag Zoo had one hyena in 2002 which died after a few years. Till then there is no hyena residing in Maharajbag zoo. It is the first time when Gorewada Zoo will get a pair of hyenas soon along with two grey wolves which is completely new for the city.
The grey wolf is an endangered species which ranges from Southwest Asia to the Indian subcontinent. Similarly, striped hyena is a near threat- ened species and native to North and East Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
Curretly, there are two tigers, six leopards, four sloth bears and 70 herbivores animals are residing in Gorewada Zoo.