In a couple of days, the two female rhinoceros at the National Zoological Park at New Delhi will have a new mate in Shiva, the solitary male one-horned rhinoceros at the Byculla zoo. Following an agonising wait of five days, Shiva finally stepped into the transport cage on Sunday. He would be shifted to the New Delhi zoo by Wednesday.
Anil Anjankar, Byculla zoo director, said, “Shiva entered the transport cage at 11 am. However, instead of immediately closing down the cage doors, we allowed him to settle there for an hour. After ensuring that he had acclimatised enough with the cage surroundings, the door was shut. We bid adieu to Shiva as the cage was then mounted on the truck with the help of a crane. The truck has finally left for Delhi.”
According to the civic officials, the truck would reach the National Zoological Park in New Delhi by Wednesday evening. The New Delhi zoo has two female rhinos — Nageshwari (13) and Anjana (8) — Shiva’s new mates.
“The sole male rhino at the New Delhi zoo died last year and hence we can shift Shiva there,” said Mr Anjankar.
The zoo officials from New Delhi had arrived at the Byculla zoo on August 13 to shift Shiva to the National Zoological Park. However, he kept them waiting for five days as he refused to enter the transport cage.
All attempts to lure him inside the transport cage with the help of his favourite food failed. The wait finally ended on Sunday.
Shiva, who is around 34-year-old, was brought to the Byculla zoo from the Assam State Zoo, Guwahati, in March 1985 at the age of 6. Ever since, he was living a celibate life at the zoo.
During this period, the BMC had made several efforts to find a female rhinoceros for Shiva by getting in touch with different zoos in Assam, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Bihar and even in Germany etc. However, none of them were able to spare a female rhino for him.