Mush adored, white tigers Rishi, Sitesh and Prachi at Nandankanan Zoo, will celebrate their birthday together for the first time on Tuesday. The siblings turn two on Tuesday and the birthday bonanza is part of a new concept to be introduced by the zoo authorities.
"They would be presented with zoo furniture, part of the enclosure enrichment programme," said Nandankanan Zoo Director Ajit Patnaik.
The birthday bash for the three white tigers include a good bath and a special treat, he said, along with a specially-made cake, cut in the presence of schoolchildren and visitors. "It is an attempt to bring new reformation in the zoo administration and would certainly help the inmates grow and live in a friendly environment without fear," he said.
For the moment, Rishi, Sitesh and Prachi - born to Rohit and Sailaja - are housed in the newly-built Enclosure 20 of the Zoo, inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik last April. According to Patnaik, after their birth, the siblings stayed with their mother Sailaja for quite sometime. Subsequently, they were isolated from their mother and housed in Enclosure 33A nearby.
Few days after their birth, Rishi and Sitesh were shifted from the enclosure to Enclosure 20. However, the following day, all the three cubs refused food in protest against their separation, "forcing" the authorities to unite Sitesh and Rishi with Prachi.
The Zoo Director said all three are living happily and enjoying their new home, with its enriched wet moat, a small pond, dining table, greenery and grass carpeting. Rohit and Sailaja's earlier offspring, Rebati, was a normal coloured tigress born on July 3, 1999 and is now housed in enclosure 33A.
Two poachers arrested in Bhitarkanika
The Pioneer, Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Pioneer News Service | Kendrapara
The Bhitarkanika forest personnel on Sunday arrested two poachers for allegedly laying traps for spotted deer inside the mangrove forest at South Mainsamada forest beat under the National Park area, 56 km from here, said official sources. The forest officials also seized traps from their possession.
The arrested duo, suspected to be Bangladeshi immigrants were identified as Bhanu Gaini of Krushnanagar village and Siba Barah of Talchua.
Both were booked under Sections 29,31, 8 and 19 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and they were later produced before the Court of the Judicial Magistrate (First Class) on Monday at Pattamundai, which rejected their bail applications and remanded them to custody.
It may be noted that rampant illegal poaching of spotted deer has been going on in the forest and its nearby areas because of lack of patrolling inside the area due to shortage of staff.
According to sources, posts of at least 25 forest guards are lying vacant in the Rajanagar Mangrove (Wildlife) Division.
Poachers often trap the hapless animals by spreading nylon ropes.
The Bhitarkanika National Park is home to about 5,000 spotted deer and the population of the deer is rising in spite of rampant poaching as each year a female deer gives birth to at least two baby deer.
The large population of deer are not getting sufficient fodder and water inside the park area for which the animals often stray into the nearby village fields and water bodies for which the poachers easily kill them by trapping.
