Goa's Bondla zoo gets pair of tigers

PANAJI: Goa's Bondla zoo has got a pair of tiger under a exchange scheme with the Vishakapatnam zoological park, a senior forest officers said.

The state forest department has exchanged a pair of Indian bisons with a pair of male and female tigers of Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in Vishakhapatnam, they said

"The tiger pair is named as Rana (male) and Sandhya (female)," deputy conservator of forest Debendra Dalai said.

He said with the acquisition of the pair, the people of Goa now no longer require to visit the zoo outside the state to see the royal predators.

The tigers have been placed in quarantine for a period of three weeks as per the conditions stipulated by the Central Zoo Authority before being released into the enclosures for public display.

The pair will be on display for the public during mid-August and date will be announced subsequently, he said.

"Tigers are considered to be at the apex of the food chain in the forest eco-system and as such their presence in the zoo has now made the collection appear complete," the deputy conservator said.