Hyderabad: Zoo Park to rear fish to feed its carnivorous

Bahadurpura: In a serene atmosphere inside the sprawling lush green area of Nehru Zoological Park, Bahadurpura, the authorities have fished out an idea of 'Fish Farming' this time to feed the carnivorous animals.

There are a total of two fish ponds presently taken up for fish rearing in the zoo park. The ponds were set up close to fodder-pod, a vegetable cultivation zone being carved out to cultivate organic food for the zoo inmates.

"If the idea works, the fishes reared in the ponds would be used to feed carnivorous animals inside the zoo park that would again cut the dependency over outside food.

This idea was taken up on a pilot basis and can only be helpful if resulted into bountiful yielding. At present the ponds are carrying only fish seeds that would take enough time to get into shape and ready to be fed to the animals," the sources informed.

According to an official, the carnivorous animals in the zoo park are being fed with beef, fish, chicken and eggs that are brought from outside. There are a total 181 animal species in the zoo park of which 16 are herbivorous that include elephant, hippo, rhinoceros, bison, nilgai, giraffe, antelope, turtle, and deer while the carnivorous species like white tiger, cheetah, Royal Bengal tiger, jaguar, wolf, hyena, jackal, Indian fox, lions (Asiatic & African), panther, Himalayan black bear, sloth bear and Malayan sun bear, long snouted crocodile (gharials), saltwater crocodile, palm civet, small Indian civet and jungle cat occupy much of the space.

Earlier, the zoo authorities took up organic farming inside its purview to protect the herbivorous species from the harmful effect of chemically induced vegetables being brought from outside. They started cultivating spinach, mint, banana, coriander besides sugarcane, and papaya and Co4 grass while cabbage, carrots, tomato, potato, sweet potato, red chilli, cucumber, sugarcane, curry leaf, okra, beans, raddish, banana, sweet lemon, apples, grapes, guava, pineapples, watermelon still brought from markets every day to feed the herbivorous.

Established in 1963, Nehru Zoological Park, Bahadurpura, with a total 181 animal species under one roof has ranked one of the biggest wildlife sanctuaries in the country which spreads over 380 acres on the bank of historic Mir Alam tank.