The Hindu : Lone white tiger to get a mate soon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 21, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Lone white tiger to get a mate soon

By Santosh Patnaik

Sirish, the lone white tiger in Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in Visakhapatnam, who will soon find company when the female white tiger from Hyderabad zoo joins him. — Photo: K.R. Deepak

VISAKHAPATNAM, JAN. 20. The days of leading a solitary life will soon end for the lone white tiger, Sirish, the prized possession of the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park here. Efforts to bring a female partner for the three-and-half-year old Sirish from the Nehru Zoological Park of Hyderabad seem to have evoked a positive response.

"We are expecting a female white tiger from our counterpart in Hyderabad very shortly,'' the Conservator of Forests, M. Sudhakar, told The Hindu on Tuesday.

After allowing the female tiger to acclimatise itself to the new habitat for some days, the couple will be put on public display. For want of infrastructure and a mate, the lone white tiger, which was gifted to the local zoo by the Nehru Zoological Park, is not being exhibited at present.

Now the ground is being prepared for erecting an open moat where the white tiger couple will be kept for display. Work will begin after obtaining technical sanction from the authorities in Hyderabad in about a week. A day prowl centre is also being planned apart from spacious cages as per the specifications of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA).

The total project outlay is Rs. 25 lakhs and it is expected to be completed by April or May, according to the Zoo Curator, B. Vijay Kumar.

The zoo is also poised to get another attraction with the commencement of the work on the deer safari on the left side of the main gate. The zoo is spread over 625 acres of which fencing is being done on 20 to 30 hectares. With the availability of several types of deer in the zoo, the population has multiplied to more than 200 over the years.

There are plans to allow about 100 spotted deer and 12 to 20 sambars to move into the area earmarked for the safari. A closed vehicle will take the visitors round to enable them to have a close look at the animals. With the inauguration of the white tiger enclosure and deer safari, the number of visitors will register a geometric jump, Mr. Vijay Kumar said.

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