The Assam State Zoo which is home to 112 species of animals is all set to welcome chimpanzees and binturongs from Indonesia in the next 10 months.
On February 16, the Assam State Zoo signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Taman Safari, Bogor, Indonesia. According to the MoU, the Assam State Zoo will receive two male and two female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and two male and two female binturongs (Aretictis binturong) from the Indonesian safari and in return they will send back a male and female rhino.
Tejas Mariswamy, Divisional Forest Officer of Assam State Zoo told G Plus, “Two species are coming down from Indonesia - chimpanzees and binturang. Right now only the zoo authority has approved. We have to take permissions from many other authorities like Central Zoo Authority and government of India.”
Visitors have been eagerly waiting for chimps to arrive at the zoo. Talks were on between the two parties before the MoU was signed. According to the MoU, the zoos will cooperate and consult each other in relation to several exchange programmes which were verbally agreed in this understanding.
Mariswamy said that it will take around six months to take permissions and another four for the animals to arrive at the zoo. So in another 10 months, the Assam State Zoo will have new members to the family.
Talking about the arrangements, Mariswamy said, “For the chimps we are planning to get a new enclosure and for the binturongs we have an existing one.”
According to the agreement, the animals shall be in good condition and should be capable of breeding when they reach their breeding age.
Goatrade Farming Co Ltd, a Bangkok-based company, will assist both the parties in everything related to the animal exchange. They will also provide advisory service in obtaining permission in procurement of CITES and health certificate, staff exchange programme, crating and transportation.
Dr Rathin Barman, Joint Director Cum In-Charge of Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), WTI talked about the exchange in animals and said, “Exchanging animals is always good. It will definitely upgrade the value of our zoo.”
When asked about the present state of the animals at the Assam State Zoo he said, “There is no end of betterment and I would love to see our zoo in a world standard state in the coming years.”
Talking about rhinos being sent to Indonesia, Dr Barman said, “It will be good if we keep rhinos in our country since they are our pride and we should give more importance to them.”
In December 2019, the administration of Assam State Zoo Cum Botanical Garden had taken special measures to keep the animals warm and healthy. The zoo authorities had installed heaters inside the shelters of aged animals like tigers and also provided paddy straws around the shelters to keep them warm.
“The enclosures are too cramped for the animals and the heaters seem pointless since animals can find their way to keep themselves warm if provided with the right environment. It is not like they have heaters in the wild,” said a visitor.
“The animals did not look like they were in a good state. I wonder if the animals being brought down from Indonesia will be taken care of,” the zoo-goer added.
The Assam state zoo is located in the Hengrabari Reserve Forest in Guwahati. It is spread across an area of 175 hectares which also includes a botanical garden. Though the flora and fauna attracts tons of visitors, it is not doing much for the animals.
Azam Siddique, animal welfare activist, said that 15-20 years ago the Assam State Zoo was supposed to get Orangutans from Thailand and in return, send rhinos. “Thailand does not have the environment for Indian rhinos nor does Assam for orangutans so the deal was blocked,” said Siddique.
“Today, the animal right activism in the northeast, especially for wildlife, has completely taken a back seat because there are no people to defend all these things,” he added.
He then went on to talk about how there was an instance of rhino poaching inside the Assam State Zoo by laying electric wires. “They almost managed to kill the rhino. All these instances are not reported.”