Mysuru: Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, popularly called as the Mysuru Zoo, has sent a letter to the Centre seeking permission to give a pair of tigers to the new Atal Bihari Vajpayee Zoological Park coming up at Kamalapur in Ballari.

Mysuru Zoo Executive Director C. Ravishankar, speaking to Star of Mysore said that the Mysuru Zoo had sent a letter to the Centre about three months back and were waiting for a communication in this regard.

He said that six-year-old tigress Apeksha and six-year-old tiger Lakshmana have been identified to be given to Kamalapur Zoo and added that the Centre would take a call on the proposal by the Kamalapur Zoo, which has sought the tigers. It would take about six months to complete the procedure in this regard, Ravishankar said.

The Kamalapur Zoo will also be getting a pair of tigers from Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) in Bengaluru.

The Zoo administration is closing down the existing Zoo near Hosapete Railway Station in a phased manner to make way for the new one in Kamalapur near Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary and Hampi Kannada University. The Zoo and the safaris are scheduled to be  inaugurated in Nov. to coincide with Hampi Utsav.

The Apex Court and the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) had granted exemption and permitted shifting the Zoo to a bigger location (375 acres) on the condition that the existing one is closed down.

The Zoo administration has shifted 75 Deer and 38 Black Bucks to the new location where the construction of enclosures is underway. The Zoo will house a total of 19 mammal species, 25 bird species and three reptiles. It will also house jungle cats, leopards and Nilgais (blue bulls), but there will be no elephants because of the high temperatures in Ballari.