In a major update from the Assam State Zoo in Guwahati on Wednesday, the zoo authority is preparing for the transport of several animals.
According to reports, the animals will be transferred to zoo owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani.
The animals being prepared to be transferred to the Ambani-owned zoo include two rhino calves among several others.
Moreover, the animals will head out of the zoo in the midnight, reports further claimed.
It may be noted that last year, two black panthers were shifted from the Assam State Zoo to the Reliance-owned zoo in Gujarat.
The Assam State Zoo-cum-Botanical Garden in Guwahati received two pairs of zebras from Israel in exchange for two black panthers, which were relocated to Reliance-owned Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Kingdom in Gujarat's Jamnagar.
According to Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Guwahati zoo, Tejas Mariswamy, Assam is the only breeding centre of Black Panther in the country.
Mariswamy said the zebra enclosure was being constructed and animals, which were bought from Israel's Zoological Centre Tel-Aviv Ramat-Gan.
"Under this exchange programme with Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Kingdom, a pair of black panthers have already been sent in January—under the approval of the Central Zoo Authority like any other such exchange of animals between zoos in India," he had said.
He added that several zoos in the country want black panthers bred in Guwahati zoo, like last year when a black panther was exchanged with Mysore zoo for an ostrich. Prior to that, another black panther was exchanged with a giraffe in Ranchi zoo.
