Bhubaneswar: Nandankanan authorities will welcome two new guests to the zoo shortly.
The zoo authorities have struck a deal with Mysore zoo to bring a pair of giraffes as part of an animal exchange programme. The zoo only has one female giraffe at present - Khushi - brought from the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park in Patna in 2012.
Khushi has been alone after Joy, a six-year-old male giraffe brought from Alipore zoo in Calcutta, died in February last year.
"The Central Zoo Authority recently approved the animal exchange programme. We will send a chimpanzee for the giraffe pair to Mysore zoo," said deputy director of Nandankanan zoo, Jayant Dash.
In May, the Mysore zoo authorities had sent a proposal to Nandankanan zoo to exchange a pair of giraffes for a chimpanzee.
Zoo officials said the giraffes would be brought to undertake a breeding programme of the animal.
"Giraffes have great value under the animal exchange programme. If the breeding of the animals is successful, we will be able to get new species through animal exchange," said a zoo official.
He also said a team of zoo officials would visit Mysore zoo next month to finalise the details of the exchange process.
Khushi was brought from Patna after the zoo's previous attempt to get a giraffe in 2008 ended in disaster after the animal died of electrocution during transportation.
The zoo authorities are also in touch with other zoos in the country to bring a pair of zebras after the zoo's last zebra died on September 25. Four of the zebras brought from Israel in September 2015 have died within two years.
"Winter has nealry arrived and this is the time when we receive the most number of tourists. So, we plan to bring a pair of zebras at the earliest possible. We are hopeful of maximum footfall of tourists in the winter," said an official.
In April, Nandanakanan zoo had recorded 3,000 species, its highest number since its inception in 1960. The zoo currently has a repository of 155 species and 3,120 animals and attracted 31.81 lakh visitors in 2016-17.
