Delhi zoo swaps black bucks for cobras, pythons

Delhi zoo on Monday sent 15 of the species to a zoo in Chhattisgarh as part of an exchange programme. Nivedita Khandekar reports

Delhi zoo on Monday sent 15 of the species to a zoo in Chhattisgarh as part of an exchange programme.

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The 15 animals included 10 female and five male black bucks, kept in a special cage, which were handed over to the Bilaspur zoo officials along with the animals’ health certificates, Zoo’s curator (education) Riaz Khan said.

In exchange, two pairs of snakes—one of cobras and the other of rock pythons—have been received, but will be put on view only when the hibernation season gets over.

Already overpopulated with black bucks, the officials are happy to give away some of them. The number of black bucks rose from 100 in 2005-06 to around 145 in 2009-10.

The zoo authorities have got a large number of requests from other zoos for black bucks.

Exchange of animals, either between two Indian zoos or between an Indian and a foreign zoo, is done only after the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) approves it.

The CZA has a few pending proposals for the exchange of animals with the Delhi zoo to clear. One is about a pair of ostrich and a pair of llama (wooly mammals related to camels) from Pakistan’s Lahore zoo in lieu of two pairs of sambar deer from here.

Winter care

The Delhi zoo has made arranged woolen blankets, heaters and jute cloth covers to help its animals and birds fight off the cold. While only the two chimpanzees get blankets, cages of lions, tigers and bears have been provided with heaters and the reptiles have got wooden platforms to keep them warm. The birds’ cages, especially those of the exotic species, are covered with jute cloth.