The Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Borivali, which has been struggling to get new pairs of rusty spotted cats for its ambitious captive breeding programme for a few years now, has had its prayers answered, after three rusty kittens separated from their mother were brought to the park on Wednesday.
The rusty spotted cats are not only endangered species but also the smallest feline species in the world. SGNP has been running a programme since 2013 on breeding and conserving the cat species with help and guidance from Pune-based expert Dr Erach Bharucha. However, wildlife activists said that they could not understand why SGNP was running the programme despite the fact that they have hardly had any success ever since its inception.
As per Sanjay Waghmode, superintendent of lion and tiger safaris at the national park, the kittens were separated from their mother and found abandoned near a village in Wadgaon-Maval area in Pune. When days passed and they could not be reunited with their mother, the forests officials brought them to a Pune rescue centre.
"As soon as we got to know about the three rusty spotted kittens we decided to get them to the park and our team from SGNP travelled to Pune on Wednesday and brought the cats, one male and two females, from Katraj rescue centre. They are under our care now," he said.
Dr Shailesh Pethe, veterinary officer for SGNP, informed that all the three kittens were around 30-days to 40-days old and the male was critical — it was even getting fits. "Young ones of the cat family that are separated from their mothers are always at high risk. So they need round-the-clock care and feeding. We are taking good care of these kittens, who are on a special diet," he said, adding that apart from the new guests, the park already has four rusties — males Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram and one female, Vedika — who are all from the same parents.
Pethe said that since the current lot at SGNP are siblings, they cannot be bred. So SGNP has been looking to get new pairs so that the breeding programme can be run.
Anwar Ahmed, chief conservator of forests (CCF) and director of SGNP, said that while they will keep looking for new pairs of "rusties" from different zoos that they have been approaching, these kittens are a welcome addition to the existing lot keeping the future in mind.
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