GUWAHATI, Oct 12 - After nearly 20 years, the Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden is all set to house the ostrich.
The Central Zoo Authority has approved an exchange programme between the State Zoo and Ranchi�s Bhagwan Borsa Biological Park.
The technical committee of the Central Zoo Authority has approved a list of animals to be exchanged between the two zoos. The State Zoo will give a male black panther and three leopard cats to the Bhagwan Borsa Biological Park and in return, the State Zoo will get a pair of ostriches and also a pair of striped hyenas.
However, the technical committee did not approve the transfer of mouse deer from Assam to Ranchi as the animal is not part of the approved animal collection plan of that zoo.
State Zoo DFO Tejas Mariswamy said the exchange is likely to take place in the first half of November next. The State Zoo had around six to seven ostriches earlier. The last time it had the bird was in 1998.
The Central Zoo Authority had earlier approved another exchange programme through which the State Zoo will get crocodiles from Kanpur by November end.
The State Zoo is also going to get a few exotic birds � pairs of Lady Amherst�s pheasants, golden pheasants and silver pheasants � from Darjeeling. In return, the State Zoo will give the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park of Darjeeling a male slow loris. This exchange is expected to take place this month itself. The State Zoo currently houses around 1,100 inmates.