Global conservation training in Darjeeling zoo - Course on endangered species to be conducted by Durrell wildlife trust

TT;VIVEK CHHETRI  Darjeeling, Nov. 15: A renowned wildlife conservation trust based on the Channel Islands will send a team of experts to the Darjeeling zoo to conduct a training, the first time in the history of the facility. The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, an international charity working across the globe to save animals, has not done such a training programme anywhere else in India before. 

It will conduct the course on endangered species for zoo directors and vets, some of whom will come from Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. The course will be held in the Darjeeling zoo, called the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, from November 17-21. Zoo director A.K. Jha said: “The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is known across the globe for its conservation work. Every year, the Indian government sends four officials — two directors and two vets — for training at the Durrell Trust. However, this year the government and the Central Zoo Authority have decided to invite the experts so that a large number of officials can be trained.” “Two representatives each from Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka will attend the training,” Jha said. 

The session will be inaugurated by B.S. Bonal, the member-secretariat of the Central Zoo Authority, the apex body of zoos in the country, and K. Das, the additional chief secretary (forest), Bengal. “Four resource persons from the Durrell trust will come here,” Jha said. During the meeting, discussions are likely to centre around enrichment of breeding, genetic management, project formulation and health issues among others. The Darjeeling zoo, opened in August 1958, is considered among the better kept zoos in the country.

 It was selected for the training course as it has successfully started various conservation initiatives. Since 1986, the zoo has been breeding snow leopards and at present has eight of them. In October this year, Kim, a two-and-a-half-year-old female leopard, was brought from Germany to strengthen the genetic pool. “Kim is currently on quarantine. Visitors will be able to see her from November 17,” Jha said. 

 The zoo had also started a red panda conservation project in 1999. It has released four red pandas, born in the zoo, into the wild. At present, there are 15 red pandas in the zoo here — 10 males, five females. The Darjeeling zoo was the first in the country to start such conservation projects. During the course of the training, the Central Zoo Authority will also hold a director’s meet which the country’s zoo policy and its implementation will be discussed. “The directors’ meet is held once in two years. The last meeting was held in Hyderabad two years ago,” Jha said.