The city police detained protestors who staged protest outside Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden in Guwahati on Thursday.
According to sources, the protest was staged by Zoo Protection Forum in front of the zoo.
The protesters demanded the zoo officials to bring back the animals which were shifted to zoo owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani from Guwahati.
Earlier this month, two rhino calves among several others were sent to Ambani-owned zoo.
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 has 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.
