PUNE: The year 2020 will see four new animals arrive in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)-run Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park, popularly known as the Katraj Zoo. People will get to see a leopard cat, a jungle cat and an Indian giant squirrel, along with a lion in the park.
Zoo Chief Superintendent Rajkumar Jadhav said, “We have started constructing an enclosure each for three new animals. An enclosure for the lion is already available. They will be on display in March. We have initiated the process to bring these animals in the park. In 2016, we bought two lions in the park from Junagadh (Gujarat). Now, we will bring another lion from the same place. Three new animals were rescued in the past. However, we have not displayed them yet. We will display them in March after constructing their enclosures.”
Another park official said, “The leopard cat, the jungle cat and the Indian giant squirrel (shekru) are new species added to the zoo. Shekru is the state animal of Maharashtra. The jungle cat has a uniformly sandy, reddish-brown or grey fur without spots. The leopard cat is about the size of a domestic cat but more slender, with longer legs and well-defined webs between its toes. Its small head is marked with two prominent dark stripes and a short and narrow white muzzle.”
The zoological park is located in Katraj area and spread over 130 acres of land and is divided into 3 parts: the animal orphanage, the snake park and the zoo, overlooking a 42-acre lake. It gets financial aid from the Central Zoo Authority. The planning mainly aims at giving the 16 types of animals their natural habitat. Indigenous natural enclosures have been created for tigers, monkeys, sambar, bears and other animals. The white tiger, leopard, an assortment of wild cats, sloth bears, sambars, barking deer, blackbucks, crocodiles and the Indian tortoise are among them. At least 2,500 to 3,000 people visit the zoo daily and the number goes up to 10,000-15,000 on holidays.
The zoo is a member of the International Species Information System. It is a non-profit organisation which gives the world standard zoological data collection and sharing software to more than 800 members’ zoos, aquariums and related organisations in almost 80 countries.
