Major zoos to get quarantine facility

In a move to prevent animals from contracting dreaded diseases such as swine and avian flu, four quarantine centres each will be soon set up in the four major metros across the country.
 
This would also encourage safer animal exchange between the states and countries as well for felines rescued from wild, Central Zoo Authority member-secretary BR Sharma said.
 
He said, the quarantine centres will be constructed at the zoo headquarters in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai.

At these centres the animals will be kept off display until they are fully quarantined.
 
The CZA will partly fund the constructions of these hi-tech quarantine centres to come up in the next six months.
 
"Before it is released in the zoo or sent to another zoo, the animal has to be quarantined under the supervision of veterinarians to ensure that the feline is germ-free and harmless to another inmates," Sharma explained.
 
This was decided at a meeting held recently attended by representatives from CZA and animal husbandry department.
 
During the meeting, a four-member panel was also constituted for framing guidelines specifying the quarantine period for the animals brought or sent to zoos under animal exchange programme.

As per decision, the committee will categorise all the animal species, around 5,000 in number, under ten different headings for whom the quarantine time period will be defined.