Padmaja Naidu National Himalayan Zoological Park - Darjeeling Zoo :For a few hours on Saturday morning, Kolkata airport will pay host to two special and unusual guests. The Emirates flight from Dubai that will touch down at 8.15am will carry in its belly a pair of female snow leopards from Lodz Zoo in Warsaw, Poland. The leopards, aged 12-18 months, will make a brief halt at the airport for paperwork before resuming the journey in an air-conditioned vehicle by road.
The snow leopards are part of several animals that the Polish zoo has decided to gift to counterparts across the globe before commencing a major modernization programme. The authorities decided to send them to the Padmaja Naidu National Himalayan Zoological Park in Darjeeling after learning that the zoo needed fresh breed of snow leopards for its ongoing project on conservation breeding in captivity. Last October, too, a snow leopard had arrived at Kolkata airport from Nurnberg Zoo in south Germany en route to Darjeeling.
The leopards that will arrive on Saturday are crucial for the captive breeding programme as it is in desperate need of fresh blood line. Apart from the one that arrived from Nurnberg last year, all other snow leopards at the zoo are inter-related, and hence, not suitable for breeding.
The Snow Leopard Breeding Project has been one of the most successful and only breeding programmes of the species in South-East Asia. In last 20 years, 40 snow leopards were born in captivity at the zoo. In 2003, the zoo gifted a pair of male and female snow leopards each to Nainital and Shimla zoo and three to Gangtok zoo.
The zoo in Darjeeling, one of the best in India and among only three to get membership from the prestigious World Aquarium & Zoo Association (Nandan Kanan in Odisha and Delhi Zoo are the other two), regularly participates in animal and bird exchange programmes internationally. In 2008, the zoo received four blue sheep and six wild goats (Himalayan Tahr) from Okinawa zoo in Japan. In 2010, it imported a female red panda from Auckland and gave a red panda to the zoo in New Zealand. In 2011, it received exotic birds like crimson horned pheasant (Satyr Tragopan) and crimson bellied pheasant (Temminck Tragopan) from Scotland.
The twin female leopards are the latest acquisition for the zoo. Sources said a veterinarian from Darjeeling zoo would be present at the airport along with a doctor from Alipore zoo to examine the leopards and determine if they need to be quarantined. They will also decide whether the animals are in a condition to immediately undertake the gruelling journey to Darjeeling by road or need a few days rest.
While the 634km journey from Kolkata to Darjeeling could have been a lot less painful for the phantom cats had they flown down to Bagdogra, Indian carriers are not too keen on having two leopards on board, citing that they have the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's permission to fly only dogs and cats in the cargo hold of passenger flights.
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The leopards that will arrive on Saturday are crucial for the captive breeding programme as it is in desperate need of fresh blood line. Apart from the one that arrived from Nurnberg last year, all other snow leopards at the zoo are inter-related, and hence, not suitable for breeding.
The Snow Leopard Breeding Project has been one of the most successful and only breeding programmes of the species in South-East Asia. In last 20 years, 40 snow leopards were born in captivity at the zoo. In 2003, the zoo gifted a pair of male and female snow leopards each to Nainital and Shimla zoo and three to Gangtok zoo.
The zoo in Darjeeling, one of the best in India and among only three to get membership from the prestigious World Aquarium & Zoo Association (Nandan Kanan in Odisha and Delhi Zoo are the other two), regularly participates in animal and bird exchange programmes internationally. In 2008, the zoo received four blue sheep and six wild goats (Himalayan Tahr) from Okinawa zoo in Japan. In 2010, it imported a female red panda from Auckland and gave a red panda to the zoo in New Zealand. In 2011, it received exotic birds like crimson horned pheasant (Satyr Tragopan) and crimson bellied pheasant (Temminck Tragopan) from Scotland.
The twin female leopards are the latest acquisition for the zoo. Sources said a veterinarian from Darjeeling zoo would be present at the airport along with a doctor from Alipore zoo to examine the leopards and determine if they need to be quarantined. They will also decide whether the animals are in a condition to immediately undertake the gruelling journey to Darjeeling by road or need a few days rest.
While the 634km journey from Kolkata to Darjeeling could have been a lot less painful for the phantom cats had they flown down to Bagdogra, Indian carriers are not too keen on having two leopards on board, citing that they have the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's permission to fly only dogs and cats in the cargo hold of passenger flights.
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