Hyderabad: Minister Indrakaran inaugurates facilities in zoo

Hyderabad: Minister for Forests and Environment A Indrakaran Reddy, along with Bahadurpura MLA Moazam Khan, inaugurated several facilities, including a new aviary complex and closed-circuit camera surveillance monitoring system in the Nehru Zoological park on Thursday. According to officials, the zoo management has taken up construction of a new aviary in place of the earlier parrot world which was inaugurated by Dr Salim Ali, the renowned ornithologist, in 1977. The state-of-the-art aviary is spread over 17,458 sq ft. It consists of 36 enclosures for housing colorful Indian and exotic birds. The enclosures have been enriched with shrubs, flowering plants, tall grasses, water pools and baths, perches, swings, nesting boxes to give a natural look. "The aviary is constructed at a cost of Rs 1.3 crore with the Zoos and Parks Authority of Telangana (ZAPAT) funds realised through entry fee and other services in the zoo. It will display 680 birds belonging to 60 species from Asia, Australia, Africa and South America," informed officials.

For better security, monitoring of the zoo, visitor management and also to study the animal behavior, 200 CCTV cameras, covering the total area of 380 acres, have been installed. The first phase of cameras was inaugurated by the minister. In the second phase installation of 250 cameras will be taken up.

Indian Wild Dog released into enclosure

The four Indian wild dogs called Dhole (Cuon alpinus) which were received from Pilikula Biological Park, Mangalore (Karnataka) as a part of animal exchange programme with the zoo, were released into a special enclosure. The wild dogs were quarantined in the zoo for four weeks before release.

Also called 'Whistling hunters', they hunt in packs numbering between 20 and 30. They can hunt herbivores, like Sambar, Spotted Deer, Neelgai.

History

The Nehru Zoological Park was established on 26 October 1959 by relocating the animals in erstwhile zoo enclosures in Public Gardens, Nampally, and opened to public on October 6, 1963. It is home 2016 mammals, birds and reptiles representing 193 species. The zoo is abutting Mir Alam Tank which is an indigenous arch bund dam with 24 arches constructed 200 years ago.

♦ First zoo in the country to have a safari park by establishing a lion safari complex in 1974

♦ First in the country to start nocturnal animal house in 1987

♦ First in the country to start an open butterfly park in 1998

♦ First zoo to set up pre-historic dinosaur park

♦ in the country to receive ISO 9001-2015 certification in 2020-21