Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The wait for approval of the budget for bringing a pair of zebras and giraffes from European countries to Van Vihar National Park continues. Zebra and giraffe could be only brought under animal exchange programmes as purchasing wild animals is banned in India.
Deputy director of the national park Sunil Kumar Sinha told Free Press that so far, Van Vihar has not received the desired money from the government to bring zebras and giraffes. When the money is received then things could move ahead, Kumar added.
He, however, said that under the animal exchange programme, Van Vihar is not getting zebras and giraffes from anywhere in the country. Moreover, bringing zebras from Africa is banned. Hence, the option to get zebras and giraffes from any other European country is being explored.
As zebra and giraffe could be brought only under the animal exchange programme, Van Vihar has mooted a plan to identify the wild animal which could be exchanged in lieu of zebra and giraffe. It was learnt that Van Vihar intends to exchange sloth bear or leopard but nothing is sure in this regard.
Sources said that the Van Vihar officials are also waiting to get the consent from any zoo of European countries for the animal exchange programme. The number of visitors is likely to increase by leaps and bounds, once Van Vihar gets zebras and giraffes.
