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Blue sheep joy in Hill satellite zoo

The zoo in Kurseong at Dowhill is part of the PNHZP. PNHZP staff said the three kids were doing good and are with their mother.

Blue sheep joy in Hill satellite zoo

The blue sheep is a Schedule-I species under the Wildlife Protection Act, and is part of the several breeding programmes being undertaken by the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park in Darjeeling.

The Circle of Life seems to go on, even as normal life is adversely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Three new members in the blue sheep family were welcomed by authorities at the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP) in Darjeeling very recently.

According to PNHZP director Dharamdeo Rai, the sheep was born in Kurseong on Sunday. “It is healthy and has been kept in an enclosure there. We are yet to name it,” he said today.

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Apart from the male fawn born at the Darjeeling Satellite Zoo in Kurseong, sources said another female fawn was also born there on 26 June, along with a male fawn on 6 July in the PNHZP here.

The zoo in Kurseong at Dowhill is part of the PNHZP. PNHZP staff said the three kids were doing good and are with their mother.

“The kids will continue to have breast milk of their mother, while they will start eating green fodder after three to four months,” sources said.

The blue sheep, also known as Bharal, is a Schedule-I species under the Wildlife Protection Act, and is part of the several PNHZP conservation breeding programmes being undertaken there with different endangered Himalayan species.

Presently, breeding programs for animals like the red panda, snow leopard and the Tibetan wolf is going on successfully, with breeding of rare and endangered species like the Himalayan thar, Himalayan Monal, Red Jungle fowl and the Himalayan newts (salamander) also being done, among others.

Even though captive breeding programmes started in the park in the mid-80s, the PNHZP started the breeding programme of the Blue Sheep in around 2009. It was in that year that they brought two pairs of Blue Sheep (two male and two female) from the Okinawa zoo in Japan, for the breeding programme.

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