Beyond the Alipore Zoo in Kolkata, another Bengal zoo, the one located in Burdwan town, is set to house a Royal Bengal tiger and a hippopotamus, senior forest officials have stated. The Central Zoo Authority — a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change— has verbally agreed to allow the Burdwan Small Zoo, within the Ramanabagan sanctuary in the town, to house a tiger.
This initiative was announced earlier by the former Forest Minister Jyotipriyo Mallik during his visit to the zoo in July 2023. “The Central Zoo Authority has agreed to provide us with a Royal Bengal tiger and a hippopotamus, accompanied by some birds of special species,” said Sanchita Sharma, Divisional Forest Officer of East Burdwan. She added: “By the end of July or the first week of August, the animals are likely to arrive here, and we are preparing the required infrastructure to accommodate them.” Currently, the zoo houses three leopards, one sloth bear, monkeys, five crocodiles, and three barking deer. The Ramanabagan sanctuary, spanning 14.72 hectares, also accommodates 45 spotted deer. In the 2023–24 period, the sanctuary recorded the birth of 27 deer calves.
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