Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 31: There is some good news for animal lovers and visitors to Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) as the zoo will soon get four zebras and four African lions in the second phase of its animal exchange programme.
The eight animals will be brought from the Tel Aviv zoo in Israel as part of an agreement signed between the two zoos in June, said officials. Rs 24 lakh has already been spent by the state government in this regard, the officials added.
A team headed by NZP assistant director Kamal Lochan Behera will leave for Mumbai September 3 to bring the four animals, which will reach Mumbai by September 7 and 8. The animals will reach Nandankanan by September 15, said NZP deputy director Jayanta Dash.
NZP currently has 11 lions – two in safari, eight in enclosures and one in its infancy. In the first phase of the animal exchange programme November 11, 2014, four lions of African-Asian mixed breed were brought to NZP from Bangalore. The lone zebra of NZP, Sabita, had died January 6, 2015.