Visakhapatnam: In an innovative programme, Vizag's Indira Gandhi Zoo Park (IGZP) organised the naming ceremony of three Indian bisons or Gaur (BosGaurus) calves on Wednesday morning. Instead of the zoo management, it was the public who were asked to suggest three-letter names (in Telugu) for the two male and one female calves. Three names were picked up from drop boxes in a lucky draw and the calves were thus named Hanshika, Giri and Vijay.
Visitors could suggest the names from Tuesday onwards and put the name-written chits in three separate drop boxes. Cine actor SaileshBolisetti was asked to pick up three names from the boxes among hundreds of entries. Awards were given to those whose suggested the three names.
Born to parents Pinky and Veer, brought from Bondla Zoo in Goa, the three calves are aged six, eight and nine months, with Hanshika being the youngest.
"I feel privileged to be part of today's programme at a time when most wildlife is under threat of extinction. It's a great and interesting job by the zoo management," remarked actor Sailesh. The name Hanshika was given by one Prashant, who wasn't present at the ceremony on Wednesday, while the slip with the suggested name Vijay did not have information about the person who suggested it. Giri was suggested by C Malkonda of Balamma Foundation, an organisation for orphan children.
One of the visitors, wildlife conservationist Santosh Edupuganti, working for Fishing Cats conservancy said, "Such type of naming ceremony of animals by the public is a rare event in Indian zoos. Such programmes enable the public to participate in the animal-related programmes directly and build a bond between the wildlife and people. Programmes like birthday party of tiger cubs, which was held in the zoo in March and the naming ceremony will draw more visitors to the zoo, make it more popular and at the same time, people will feel more involved with the animals as they would have personally named them."
Speaking about the Indian Gaur, IGZP curator B Vijaya Kumar averred, "The gaur is the largest bovine native to southeast Asia, with a life span of 30-40 years. It's listed as vulnerable as per IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red list and rare, endangered in the Eastern Ghats due to its habitat destruction. Other threats to its existence include poaching, trade, for meat and trophies. The estimated population in India is around 12,000-15,000 but it's fast depleting in the Eastern Ghats as compared to the Western Ghats. It's the state animal of Goa. At IGZP, we have nine gaurs (five male and four female) including the three calves. To save the rare and endangered species from extinction, captive breeding of the Indian Gaur besides wild dog, barking deer, chowsingha, hog deer, salt water crocodile, water monitor lizard takes place at our zoo, which are subsequently released in the wild."
Besides the curator, assistant curator Ali Mashady and zoo doctor V Srinivas were also present at the ceremony along with hundreds of visitors.
