City halt for snow leopard from France

KOLKATA: Another snow leopard is set to join the fleet of 11 - nine females and two males - at Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park in Darjeeling this month. Namkha, the new addition, will give a boost to the zoo's captive breeding project of this rare species, which was started in 1983.
Talking to TOI, member secretary of state zoo authority V K Yadav said the new sub-adult, aged about two, is being brought from the Zoo of Mulhouse in France."It's scheduled to reach Kolkata on August 31 on an Emirates flight via Dubai around 8.20am. After a health check-up, it will start for Darjeeling in an ambulance by road," he said. The big cat is expected to reach the Hills early next morning.
Namkha, which means space, is the Tibetan name of an ancient structure made of coloured threads wrapped around wooden sticks.
In June, another male snow leopard from London's Dudley zoo - Makalu - was brought to Darjeeling for the captive breeding programme.
Officials from Darjeeling zoo will arrive in the city to receive the snow leopard. "We have to keep in mind that when it arrives it will be under stress. So we will gradually complete our journey to Darjeeling. On its way, we plan to offer it water and electrolytes apart from food. The vets from the Hills zoo will also be there," said Upasana Rai, the scientific research officer of Darjeeling zoo.
Once the big cat reaches Darjeeling, it will be put in quarantine for a month. When this period is over, the snow leopard will be shifted to a special enclosure at the off-display conservation breeding centre on the premises of the zoological park. "We will also have to see how it's getting along with the females," added Rai.
A pair of snow leopards, Hank and Persia, brought from a US zoo, gave birth to two female cubs in 1989. This was the first successful breeding of snow leopards in the Darjeeling zoo.
The snow leopard breeding project here at Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, Darjeeling is one of the most successful and the only breeding programme of the species in Southeast Asia. All the record-keeping of the programme and animals is not only done in Darjeeling zoo, but is also recorded with the International Stud Book Keeper of the species at Helsinki.
In the last three decades, more than 50 snow leopards were born in captivity in the Darjeeling zoo. In 2004, a pair each of snow leopards was sent from Darjeeling Zoo to Gangtok, Nainital and Shimla zoos to start subsidiary Snow leopard breeding centres in these Himalayan zoos.
Recent arrivals
April 2014: Darjeeling zoo receives three-yr-old female snow leopard, Sici, from Czech republic
June 2016: Gets 2-yr-old male snow leopard, Makalu, from London's Dudley zoo
Aug 31: Hills zoo to receive another sub-adult male, Namkha, from France's Mulhouse zoo