Sanjay Gandhi National Park’s (SGNP) most ambitious project — the captive breeding programme for rusty spotted cat — has taken a serious blow after the Mysore Zoo declined to send two of its female rusty cats to Mumbai as part of an exchange programme.
Sanjay Gandhi National Park’s (SGNP) most ambitious project — the captive breeding programme for rusty spotted cat — has taken a serious blow after the Mysore Zoo declined to send two of its female rusty cats to Mumbai as part of an exchange programme.
A senior forest official confirmed that the Mysore zoo sent an official letter stating they will not be able to exchange the cats.
When enquired with Dr Shailesh Pethe, a Veterinary officer for SGNP, he said, “It was in September last year that we had worked out a plan along with Mysore zoo. We even got a go ahead from Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to exchange a male-female pair from SGNP for two females from Mysore Zoo, but now they have denied citing that their cats have skin infection.”
In fact Pethe affirmed that it was a major blow to the captive breeding programme as currently SGNP housed six rusty spotted cats, of which only two are females. The two cats are 11 and nine-year-old and the last litters were born in 2013. “Another problem we are facing is that since the existing cats belong to the same lineage there cannot be breeding done. Inbreeding will lead to weaker off-spring. We had high hopes to revive the breeding programme once two females were brought from Mysore zoo, but now even that plan has failed,” said Pethe adding that they have now written to CZA about the whole issue and began fresh enquiries with other zoo’s for exchange.
It was in 2005 when for the first time two rescued rusty-spotted kittens were brought to SGNP and were named Sachin and Anjali. They bred successfully and a few more abandoned rusty-spotted cats were brought to the park in following years. From 2013, SGNP decided to launch the captive breeding programme and started working on a plan with the help and guidance from the Pune-based expert Dr Erach Bharucha.
Of the six rusty-spotted cats with SGNP Anjali and Vedika — are two females while the four males are — Satyam, Shivam Sundaram and Bhagya.
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