Jamnagar zoo to get 13 elephants from a camp in Gadchiroli

The Maharashtra forest department recently received permission from the Project Elephant division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to shift the elephants to Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Kingdom. Project Elephant, set up in 1992, provides technical and financial support to states for wildlife management of the free-ranging Asian Elephants.

The elephants will be shifted to the Jamnagar centre in two groups. The first group is likely to be shifted this month.

The forest department has also sought information from other rescue centres and zoos in the state to see if any more animals can be sent to Reliance’s rescue centre in Jamnagar.

All the elephants to be shifted from Maharashtra are untrained and have attracted many tourists. Reliance’s Radhe Krishna Elephant Welfare Trust at Jamnagar will shift the animals.

The Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Kingdom was approved by the 33rd meeting of the Central Zoo Authority on February 12, 2019. In 2020, 12 leopards captured from the wild in Gujarat region were shifted to the zoo. These leopards were captured by the forest department after they attacked humans.

As per the layout plan shared by CZA, the centre at Jamnagar will have conservation and breeding areas, water bodies, interpretation centre, rescue and rehabilitation centre, and different areas with enclosures for exotic animals, wild animals from Gujarat, desert animals, rodents, dragons and lizards and animals found in other parts of India.

The exotic animals are expected to include giraffe, zebra, ostrich, kangaroo, white rhino, African lion, African elephant, cheetah, jaguar, pygmy hippo, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutang, lemur, komodo dragons, green and yellow anacondas.