Leopard safari launched at Bannerghatta park

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Karnataka Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment Eshwar Khandre on Wednesday launched the leopard safari at the Bannerghatta Biological Park here and asked officials to provide saplings to visitors at discounted rates.

He said that zoos are known to care for wildlife but apart from entertainment, zoos should also become centres of knowledge.

While inaugurating various development works including leopard safari at the Biological Park in Bannerghatta, which is touted as South India's first and largest in the country, hesaid people who come to the biological park are happy to see the wildlife but they should also be made aware of at least 10 types of trees by providing them information so that they can recognise the trees here.

Khandre said visitors will get to see the big cats in their natural environment spread across 20 hectares (49.5 acres) of deciduous forest in which eight leopards have been released.

The area is protected by a railway barricade and a chain link fence of 4.5 metre height. In addition, metal sheets of 1.5 metres have been erected with a 30 degree slant, to ensure that the animals do not escape. The guidelines issued by the Central Zoo Authority have been adopted, he said.

The Minister noted that the hilly terrain of Bannerghatta covered with greenery hosts many leopards, whose cubs have been rescued by the officials often from agricultural fields. At present, the Biological Park rescue centre has 14 leopards.

As the department seeks to combine eco-tourism with afforestation, he asked officials to create awareness among the visitors at the zoo about biodiversity, the importance of oxygengiving trees, role of forests and ecology in everyday life and sell saplings at discounted rates.

He urged officials to encourage them to buy a sapling on their way back home and plant it in front of their house and nurture it. In the same way that farmers are given saplings at a discounted rate, they also instructed that the visitors to the zoo should also be supplied with saplings at a discounted rate.

Khandre also inaugurated an elephant feeding centre built at a cost of Rs 10 lakh. The centre is aimed at creating a strong bond between mahuts and elephant calves, which are separated from their mothers at the age of three. Presently, there are as many as 26 elephants in Bannerghatta Park.