New guests arrive at New Town zoo, more in line

An adult hippopotamus, and a pair of zebras and giraffes have arrived at Harinalaya Mini Zoo in Eco Park, New Town.

The hippopotamus was transported in a specially designed carrier — a truck lined with protective materials and adequate provisions so the animal inside can breathe — from the Alipore zoo on Wednesday night.

For now, the hippo has been kept under observational quarantine in an enclosure away from public view to help it acclimatise to the new conditions, said a senior official of the state forest department, which is in charge of maintaining the New Town zoo.

“The hippo, native to SubSaharan Africa, will be kept out of public view for two weeks, till it gets used to the new conditions,” the official said.

The zebras and giraffes, transported around two weeks back, have been placed in their designated enclosures where visitors can see them.

Till now, the herbivore section of the zoo has three species of mammals — zebras, giraffes and hippo.

A few brow antlered deer, endemic to southeast Asia, is next in line to be transported to the zoo from Alipore, the official said.

The zoo has five marsh crocodiles brought from the Alipore zoo and four saltwater crocodiles brought from the Bhagabatpur Crocodile Project in the Sunderbans in July 2022.

Two marsh crocodiles are adults and the rest are sub-adults. The saltwater crocodiles are all sub-adults. “We have brought sub-adult crocodiles as they will be able to adapt to the new environment,” said the official.

The crocodiles have been housed in two large glass-fronted enclosures that have water bodies lined with tall trees.

Big cats such as Asiatic lion, Royal Bengal Tiger and leopard will be brought to the park next year. “Work on their enclosures is on. We have managed to recreate their habitat in the wild. All the enclosures are being built with a toughened glass front to achieve the best viewing experience,” said the official.

Deer and macaws at the zoo.

Pictures by Pradip Sanyal

The aviary and pheasantry section of the zoo now has a couple of black swans, endemic to Australia and New Zealand, an Abdim’s stork from Africa, a magpie goose, flocks of barnacle geese and Chinese geese, several blue and yellow macaws, greater cockatoos and lesser cockatoos.

The original residents of the park, barking deer and spotted deer, have got a new enclosure.

“We are trying to build the zoo with state-of-the-art technology on a par with zoos across the world. This is the second zoo in the city and we are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the visitors have an experience that is nearly similar to seeing these animals in their original habitat,” said Tapas Das, director of the Alipore zoo who is also overseeing Harinalaya Mini Zoo.

The New Town zoo, spread across 17 acres, has come up in the deer park near Eco Park’s gate number 6.

Nearly 70 per cent of the zoo’s space will remain open. The enclosures have been planned in accordance with the guidelines of the Central Zoo Authority, said an official.

The Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) is the custodian of the land, while the forest department has operational control of the park since it was inaugurated by chief minister Mamata Banerjee in February 2016.

Hidco managing director Debashis Sen said the zoo had been gaining in popularity steadily and getting a lot of visitors since winter set in. “It’s a different experience compared with the Alipore zoo and is gaining in popularity,” said Sen.