Cozy environs for zoo animals

Bipin Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Chhat Bir, December 25

With a significant dip in mercury in this part of the region, the Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park management has added honey, mutton and other supplements in the diet chart of the zoo animals to enable them brave the chill.

To keep new mothers and their offsprings cozy, the authorities have not only set up hot-air blowers and heat convectors in their enclosures but also covered the windows with transparent plastic sheets. To protect birds, makeshift huts of plant stalks have been built.

Further, display of Asiatic lion cubs, reptiles and certain birds, including budgerigars, has been stopped.

“Cages for birds have been covered with plastic sheets while the entry to the Lion Safari and the reptiles’ area has been restricted,” claimed Manish Kumar, Field Director, Chhat Bir zoo, adding that all arrangements have been made to protect zoo animals from the chilly weather.

Dr MP Singh, veterinarian at the zoo, said diet supplements, including honey, jaggery, mutton, calcium and other tonics, have been added to the routine diets of the animals. The temperature was being maintained inside the houses where reptiles were kept, he added.

“We are providing cat-feed to lion cubs and mutton to carnivores. Honey and jaggery are being provided to birds and other herbivores to raise their energy level and help them brave the chill,” he said. The quantity of sugarcane for elephants had been increased, he added.