By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 30 May: Dehradun Zoo (earlier called Malsi Deer Park) is soon likely to showcase a white tiger as its pride possession for the first time ever. In this regard, a positive initiative has been taken by the forest department to bring the white tiger to Uttarakhand. It may be recalled that Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden Sameer Sinha has been pursuing this for quite some time. He has also held a number of discussions in this regard with his Odisha counterpart, who has given his consent to hand over one white tiger to Uttarakhand. In return, Uttarakhand has agreed to hand over four leopards to Odisha.
Sameer Sinha disclosed that he had been in talks with the Chief Wildlife Warden of Odisha and, as a result, the Odisha Forest Department has also given its consent to hand over a white tiger to the Dehradun Zoo. For this to actualise, however, the permission of the Central Zoo Authority of the Government of India is also required and, for this, efforts are already being made, Sinha added. He said that the Director of the Dehradun Zoo has been instructed to complete the formalities to get permission from the authority.
It may be recalled that efforts have been made to bring a white tiger to the zoo in Dehradun for a long time. At present, there is no tiger at Dehradun Zoo and, despite having leopards in its possession, they are currently not being regularly displayed. Dehradun Zoo does have two tigers but they have not been displayed to the visitors so far as final permission of the Central Zoo Authority is also awaited in this regard.
Now that the Odisha Government has agreed to hand over a white tiger to Dehradun Zoo, correspondence is also being done with the Central Zoo Authority for the final permission. This is not the only case in the forest department regarding permission from the Central Zoo Authority. Permission is also awaited to keep the two Corbett tigers already brought to the Dehradun Zoo for tourists to see. Apart from this, two leopards have also been kept in the rescue centre in the zoo, which have not yet been kept for tourists to see. The reason is that the Central Zoo Authority has not yet given permission to display these tigers and leopards for tourists. In such a situation, now everyone is waiting for the permission of the Central Zoo Authority.
One would recall that when Dehradun Zoo was known as Malsi Deer Park, it had two rescued leopards named Rani and Raza and they were displayed also to the visitors. Since then, they have passed away.
