Hyderabad zoo welcomes two African lion cubs and two Royal Bengal tiger cubs

The Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad welcomed new lion and tiger cubs, held a naming ceremony, and introduced several visitor-friendly initiatives including a self-ticketing kiosk, WhatsApp ticket booking, and a new food court.

Hyderabad: The Nehru Zoological Park’s family just got bigger with the recent birth of two female African lion cubs and one male and female Royal Bengal tiger cubs.

A naming ceremony was conducted for the animals on Tuesday, with Forest Minister Konda Surekha giving Avani and Ira names for female African lions, while Royal Bengal Tigers were named Ishaan (male) and Vanya (female)

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Further, visitors to the zoo will no longer need to wait in queues to purchase entry tickets as a new self-ticketing vending machine (kiosk) was launched. In addition, tickets can also be booked via WhatsApp.

Donated by South Indian Bank under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, the kiosk has been placed near the main booking counter. The bank also sponsored a luggage-scanning machine, which has been placed at the main entrance. The ticket booking through WhatsApp was sponsored by Kotak Bank.

Further, the Hyderabad zoo launched a newly constructed Vihaar food court, which can cater to more than 200 visitors at once, at the main entrance.

Apart from launching a ticket vending machine and luggage scanning machine, the Forest Minister inaugurated the newly constructed dome-shaped closed enclosures for primates, pheasants and sarus crane breeding kraal and released a pair of animals into the enclosure. These are the additional enclosures for display of animals apart from existing 154 enclosures.

The enclosures, which are big and spacious, have been enriched with plants to keep the animal active. Items like ropes, sheds, baskets, hide outs, etc., have also been provided The Hyderabad zoo, in collaboration with Care Hospitals, Nampally, organised a two-day free medical health camp for its staff.

Environment, Forests, Science & Technology department Principal Secretary Ahmed, PCCF (HoFF) Dr. C Suvarna, PCCF (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden Vinay Kumar, Telangana Zoo Parks Director Dr. Sunil S. Hiremath, CCF Wildlife Kshitija, and Hyderabad Zoo Curator J Vasantha among others officials also participated in the event.