The Hindu : New Delhi News : Zoo authority seeks `outside' assistance

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 03, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Zoo authority seeks `outside' assistance

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

To fund research projects on scientific management of animals in zoos

NEW DELHI: Crippled by an acute shortage of technical personnel and the consequently suffering research activities at the zoo level, the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) established to oversee zoos across the country, coordinate breeding programmes and captive conservation measures has decided to go public and seek "outside" assistance to better understand and rectify the needs of individual zoos in the country. The CZA through this latest programme will support scientific research in zoos by granting fellowships to individual or a group of zoos.

"We are faced with a lack of technical staff and keeping in view the existing ban on recruitment of technical and scientific staff in zoos, there has not been any progress towards basic and applied research in the field of ex-situ conservation and scientific management of animals particularly in the Indian zoos," said CZA member-secretary B.R. Sharma.

The CZA under the programme will provide a grant of up to Rs. 2 lakh per year (up to a maximum of three years) for local need-based zoo research projects in the field of ex-situ conservation and scientific management of animals in zoos. The zoos may appoint fresh postgraduates in the field of wildlife science, veterinary science, zoology and botany to work on project mode on the identified areas of research. Large, medium and small zoos are eligible for the project.

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