BHOPAL: The number of wild boars has doubled, while that of Nilgai has decreased slightly compared to the animal count in the previous year. The latest animal count at the Van Vihar National Park has put the number of increase at 73 animals. The Van Vihar management released its animal census on Wednesday. According to the count, it has 1,558 animals — an increase of 73 animals over last year's count. In the 2020 count, there were 1,485 animals.
Director, Van Vihar, Ajay Yadav said that as many as 123 animals of 11 species are kept in animal enclosures. These include tiger, white tiger, lion, leopard, bear, Indian bison, hyena, crocodile, alligator, terrestrial tortoise and star tortoise. In 2020 there were 113 animals kept in the enclosure.
Overall 1,429 animals are present in the free zone. The latest count demonstrates that Cheetal and Sambhar are present in abundance in the national park. There are 555 cheetals and 388 Sambhars in free zone of the Van Vihar. Both have seen a marginal increase in numbers.
Numbers of peacocks that had gone down to 65 in 2020 have now gone up to 114. Numbers of Nilgai have gone down from 94 in 2020 to 86 in 2021. Similarly, count of black buck have also gone down from 93 to 82. On the contrary, the count of wild boars has doubled from 43 to 87. Director said that at present 6 animals including 5 African tortoises and 1 tiger have been kept in quarantine.
Enclosures: 123 animals of 11 species including tiger, lion & leopard
Free Zone: 1,429 animals including 555 cheetals, 388 Sambhars
