Ahmedabad: In a startling revelation on the floor of the State Assembly, the Gujarat Government has admitted that as many as 49 exotic animals and birds, including three Giraffes, brought from abroad and across India for the artificially created Jungle Safari around the Statue of Unity have perished during the last two years.
The Jungle Safari Park and similar other parks are the USP of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project, the Statue of Unity of Sardar Patel, near the Narmada dam site in Kevadiya in Narmada district.
This information was revealed by the Gujarat Government in a written reply during the ongoing budget session of the State Assembly to a starred question by senior Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar from Danilimda constituency in Ahmedabad.
The government stated that some 177 animals and birds were brought and these included 22 from abroad. Eight of the 49 which perished were brought from abroad.
The imported animals and birds include 5 Alpacas, 4 Lamas, 5 Wallabies, 4 Giraffes, 3 Zebras, 3 Wildebeest and 2 Oryx. Out of these, only three Alpacas, two Lamas, 2 Wallabies, one Giraffe, a Zebra, three Wildebeest and two Oryx have survived.
While the government did not disclose the number of Giraffes which have perished, Ram Ratan Nala, director of the Jungle Safari, had in 2020 confirmed that a Giraffe had perished due to diaphragmatic hernia in March 2020. Six months earlier, the Safari had lost one more Giraffe in a span of a few days. One Giraffe had died during the landing of the flight at an airport.
Sources in the State Forest Department confirmed, on condition of anonymity, that four Giraffes were brought in and three of them had perished. The government’s reply only mentioned that one Giraffe had survived.
According to official information, more than 36% of the imported exotic species couldn't survive the park's environment and 24% brought from zoos across India could not take it.
According to the State Government, most of the exotic animals and birds had suffered from respiratory and circulatory failures. This is besides other reasons included asphyxia, multi-organ failure, severe abdominal colic, pneumonia, cardiac failure and hypovolemic shock. Hypovolemia, also known as volume depletion or volume contraction, is a state of abnormally low extracellular fluid in the body. This may be due to either a loss of both salt and water or a decrease in blood volume.
Official sources said the Safari Park was initiated and developed by the State Forest Department but was later handed over to the newly-created Kevadia Statue of Unity Development Authority.
