After two failed attempts and two years of delay, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo (Byculla Zoo) have finally shortlisted a procurement agency to help import two pairs of zebras to be given to the Sakkarbaug Zoological garden in Junagadh, Gujarat, in exchange for two pairs of lions. The civic body has shortlisted a procurement agency Goa Trade, the same agency that had assisted them in flying in the colony of seven humboldt penguins.
Zoo authorities are in the process of making a proposal, which will be tabled before the civic standing committee soon for final nod.
The first tender was floated in the first half of 2019. Two agencies have shown interest, however, the process was hit by glitches after the two firms complained of technical difficulty in filing the bid. The second time tender was floated in October 2019; this time too the bid could not be finalised.
The civic body then floated tenders inviting agencies for procurement of two pairs of zebras in February 2020. The bids were finalised in the month of March; however, the process got stuck after pandemic hit the city.
The arrival of the asiatic lions at Byculla Zoo was delayed after the Sakkarbaug Zoo sought zebras in exchange. While the zebras were expected to be imported earlier this year, delay in bids and then the coronavirus-induced lockdown has hit the process. However, the civic body plans to complete the paperwork and approval at the civic body level.
The procurement of the two pairs of asiatic lions has become a prestigious matter for BMC and Byculla Zoo. In January 2019, Maharashtra chief minister's office had sent a formal request to the chief minister of Gujarat for the procurement of the two pairs of lions. Following this, in June 2019, the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) too cleared the proposal sent by Byculla zoo for the exchange of lions. In the same month itself, a grand function was organised in Sasan Gir, where Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani symbolically handed over the transfer certificates of the captive lions to a representative of Maharashtra Government who had visited then.
Director of Byculla Zoo Dr Sanjay Tripathi added that the process of obtaining the zebras and sending them to the Sakkarbaug Zoo is tedious and the civic body is not ready to wait that long. "We have been asking the Sakkarbaug Zoo officials to give us a pair of lions as soon as the procurement agency is finalised. They can give us the second pair once the zebras are imported. However, we have got no response, meanwhile the bids delayed the process further," he said.
"The agency has been selected. We will now be making a proposal, which will be tabled before the standing committee soon," said Tripathi.
The selected agency Goa Trade would have to procure the zebras based on guidelines laid out by the central government and the convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. The agency will be expected to locate and bring the zebras to India in two months. The animals will be procured from a foreign zoo under the animal exchange programme and BMC will shell out around Rs 80 lakh as handling and shipping costs.
It's been six years since the Byculla Zoo had its last captive Lion. Byculla Zoo’s most popular lioness Anita died in 2010. Jimmy another lioness, which was a hybrid-born from a cross between an African lion and Indian lioness died in 2014, after which, till date, there have been no lions in the zoo.
Other animals procured recently
The Mumbai zoo in April 2019 had brought a pair of leopards --Drogon and Pintu and jackals from Pilikula zoo in Mangaluru and then it brought a Sloth bear-- Shivani and another pair of Jackal from Surat zoo. In February, this year, Byculla Zoo welcomed two tigers (a male and a Female) Shakti and Karishma from Siddharth Zoo, Aurangabad in exchange for two pairs of spotted deers and two pairs of painted storks.
