BHOPAL: Van Vihar National Park opened its gates for two lions that have arrived from Kanan Pendari Zoo, Bilaspur on Thursday. Forest minister Umang Sringhar was present to welcome ‘Satya’ and ‘Nandi’ the two new additions to the zoo wildlife family.
The two new guests, male lion Satya and the lioness Nandi both four years of age, will add to the attraction at the national park as they have been brought solely for exhibition purpose and not for breeding, said Van Vihar director Kamlika Mohanty.
“Our lions and tigers were old so we have brought a pair of lions solely for exhibition. Since the two big cats are from same mother so no breeding will be allowed as chances of passing of diseases from parents to siblings remains high,” the director said.
Mohanty and wildlife veterinary doctor Atul Gupta, had visited Kanan Pendari Zoo in Bilaspur to see the pair of lions before shifting.
Currently, Van Vihar has two male lions Montu and Lamba and a lioness Varu, all three have completed their average life tenure. On April 15, 2017 Van Vihar had brought four lions from Assam, of which lioness Vrinda died.
Earlier, the park had planned to bring the pair of lions from Gujarat’s Junagadh Zoo. An expert team from Van Vihar had visited Junagadh on in December last year. In exchange, Van Vihar was to give pair of young tigers. But it did not materialized due to some reasons.
