Bhubnaeswar, April 3: The number of animals at the Nandankanan Zoological Park has shot up to 3,000 this month, its highest number since the zoo was set up in 1960.

At present, the zoo has a repository of 154 species. Zoo officials attributed the increase of animals to lower mortality rate and better health care facilities for the inmates.

According to park officials, as many as seven tiger cubs were born in the last fiscal, which was a major achievement for the zoo.

"The birth rate in the zoo was around 12 per cent while the mortality rate was 1.6 per cent in the last fiscal. Besides, there has been a significant increase in the population of deer in the zoo. We are also planning to bring a pair of giraffes so that we can undertake a breeding programme for the animal, which will enable us to bring more species of animals in exchange," said a zoo official.

The zoo authorities had last year brought Joy, a six-year-old male giraffe from Alipore zoo in Calcutta in exchange for four tigers. However, the animal died after six days of its arrival to the park.

The zoo has also chalked out a detailed plan to strengthen the stock of animals in the 2017-18 financial year.

"We have plans to acquire a rhino following the death of the lone rhino in the zoo last year. Besides, we also plan to bring primates and orang-utan. There are plans to undertake a modernisation programme of the existing veterinary hospital this year," said deputy director of the zoo Jayant Dash.

Last month, the zoo had received 13 new guests in the form of four male gharial crocodiles, five swamp deer (two male and three female) and four painted storks under an animal exchange programme. The animals and birds were brought from Lucknow zoo in exchange for three sloth beers. Zoo officials also said that they were planning bring two yellow anacondas, which is considered to be one of the largest snakes in the world.

However, not every news was good news for the zoo authorities as the footfall of tourists decreased by 1.38 lakh in the 2016-17 fiscal compared to the previous one. The 2015-16 fiscal had witnessed an all-time high footfall of 33.11 lakh tourists. Zoo officials said demonetisation was the main reason behind the fall in the number of tourists.

"November, December and January are considered as the most favourable time to visit the zoo. However, the demonetisation exercise in November played a significant role in the declining number of tourists," admitted a zoo official.

In order to check the drop in footfall, the zoo authorities introduced an online ticket system on December 29. Tourists can also book picnic sheds, rest houses and cottages at the State Botanical Garden by logging in to www.nandankanan.org, the official website of the zoo.