Kolkata: The Alipore zoo, India’s first scientifically managed zoo and one of the oldest in the country, has made use of a heritage building to take care of new guests — all deer species — as it turned 150 on Tuesday. It has also restored its administrative building, also a Grade-I heritage structure, and introduced a new enclosure for Bengal fox and leopard cat.
A statue of Ram Brahma Sanyal, the first Indian superintendent of the zoo who published the first handbook on captive animal keeping, was also unveiled on Tuesday.
Interestingly, the restored heritage building — where the four-horned antelopes, hog deer and mouse deer that were recently brought from Odisha’s Nandankanan were shifted — once housed all ruminant species of zoo, says a 1883 guide written by the then zoo honorary secretary and treasurer, John Anderson. The ruminants are a group of ungulate mammals that comprise the cattle, sheep, antelopes, deer, giraffes and their relatives.
Referred to as the Paddocks of Ruminantia, the guide said that the paddocks began and extended as far as the rhinoceros enclosure to the north-west. “All the important ruminants in the Gardens are exhibited in these paddocks with the exception of the giraffe, which has a special house to itself in another part of the Gardens,” said the Guide to the Calcutta Zoological Gardens.
Zoo director Subhankar Sengupta said the zoo, in terms of historical significance, had completed a full circle with this. “A long time back, all ruminants used to be housed in this heritage building but some had to be shifted to another part later. After restoring the heritage building, that is located behind the chimpanzee enclosure, we have managed to bring all of them together with the shifting of the four-horned antelope, mouse deer and hog deer,” he added.
In fact, the guide mentions details about these three species, too. According to it, back then, the paddock ended with a thatched cottage that housed the last of the deer represented in these Gardens, and the smallest of their tribe, the mouse deer.
The administrative building, referred to as the ‘entry lodge’ in the guide, has also been restored. It now houses key administrative offices of the zoo, including that of the zoo director and assistant director.
According to Sengupta, the 150th year celebration plans include involvement of schoolkids across the city in various workshops and competitions, holding species-specific workshops and involving other zoos across India for sessions on management practices.