Warangal’s Kakatiya Zoo waits for tiger as officials go slow on work on enclosure
The zoo authorities have been trying to get the big cat since 2017, but due to various reasons they could not secure it and the delay has been causing a lot of disappointment among the zoo visitors
Warangal: The long wait for a tiger at the Kakatiya Zoological Park here has left many animal lovers disappointed.
The zoo authorities have been trying to get the big cat since 2017, but due to various reasons they could not secure it and the delay has been causing a lot of disappointment among the zoo visitors. The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has already approved a tiger enclosure at the Zoo and 90 percent work of the enclosure was completed.
In 2018, the zoo authorities claimed that the works on the tiger enclosure were going at a fast pace and were anticipated to be completed within a month or two. But much to the dismay of the people of Warangal, the proposal to get the tiger seems to have been put on the backburner.
The proposal to get a pair of tigers was submitted to the chief wildlife warden (CWW) and the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), but after that nothing much happened.
The Kakatiya Zoo officials are reportedly holding discussions with Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad and the Goa Zoo to get a tiger. As per rules, after the CZA approval, zoo officials exchange wild animals with their counterparts based on their requirements.
The Zoo authorities are prepared to exchange Chinkaras, Sambars and Nilgais as per the requirement of the other zoo, which would exchange the tiger. But so far nothing much has happened in that direction.
The work undertaken by the authorities to set up a big tiger enclosure in the zoo has been going on for months. The construction work was handed over to the contractor in April this year at a cost of Rs. 70 lakh and it was supposed to be completed by August, but still a lot of work is pending.
The tiger enclosure is coming up in a 2,386 square metre area and would be spacious enough to accommodate another tiger in the future.
The authorities are blaming the rain during monsoon for the delay in construction of the enclosure and claiming that once the work was completed, they would once again place the proposal to get a tiger with the State government. According to zoo authorities, at present, one tiger was being planned and in the future, another could also be added.
At present, there are 18 enclosures in Kakatiya Zoo and 427 wild animals of 42 different species are on display.
