Chips to keep track of Sarthana Zoo animals

Authorities at Sarthana Zoo in Surat are going to place computerised transponders in the schedule-I animals - tiger and cheetah - in coming days. The exercise is aimed at collecting data in order to develop a better breed of these animals, having better immunity. In the first phase, the transponders will be fixed in four cheetahs and two tigers.

The transponders will be injected inside the animal's body at a place where the skin is loose. Connected with an electronic device, the chip will give the animal a unique identification number. Due to the chip, cross-mating of animals would become easier. Till now plastic, aluminium or copper chips were being used by the zoo, but they used to slip away from the animal's body because of some reasons.

"On several occasions, cross-breeding attempts failed as we
could not properly identify the animals. The new transponder will check this problem as the high-quality rubber will stay inside animal's body for entire life. It will reduce cross-breeding flaws and will make the entire process systematic," a zoo official said.

He added that proper cross-breeding could help in developing cubs that would have greater sustainability to adverse environment. Cross-breeding among mates of the same species produces genetically strong animals.

Currently, there are four cheetahs in the zoo named Mayawati, Molu, Raja and Jelly. Zoo officials are planning to place advanced transponders in animals in a day or two. The newly placed chips will help in identifying the animals from a distance of 10 feet.