Visakhapatnam:

The Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP), or Vizag Zoo will soon have the country’s exclusive wild dog breeding centre. It will help conserve a special breed of the fast dwindling population of wild dogs known as Dholes besides propagating them for various international animal exchange programmes, according to officials.

In fact, Vizag Zoo or IGZP is India’s only zoo that’s been successful in breeding of wild dogs for the fourth time. It had been selected by the Central Zoo Authority for conservation of endangered wild dogs.

While the IGZP will have a breeding centre for wild dogs the CZA has chosen Vandalur Zoological Park in Chennai, Tamil Nadu as the associate zoo.

According to IGZP curator G Ramalingam, wild dog population has witnessed massive increase within the protected area from just two to 19. Out of these, seven are female wild dogs, five adult males, four male and three female puppies.

Director of Zoological Parks in Andhra Pradesh, P. Mallikarjuna Rao also confirmed that Vizag zoo has witnessed a substantial increase in wild dog population. Dholes, according to him, are in demand in most of the zoos in Asia owing to the animal’s excellent eyesight and hearing capacity.

The dholes have been classified as the endangered wild dog species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature owing to their habitat loss, depletion of its prey base, according to Rao. “If this experiments turn out success the IGZP will be more popular in the country as far as captive breeding of wild dogs and their conservation is concerned”, he added.

According to Vizag zoo veterinary surgeon V Srinivas, wild dog breeding is a delicate scientific task needs to be and several measures are taken to ensure positive results. Captive breeding of wild dogs is carried out in off display units so that they get complete privacy during reproduction. Ends//

source:http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC / July 21st, 2013