Patna Zoo emerges as second-largest centre of rhino conservation after San Diego in US :Official

Patna, Sep 22 (PTI) Patna Zoo has emerged as the second-largest centre of rhino conservation after San Diego Zoo in the US, in terms of captive number, an official said here on Monday.

Speaking at a programme organised at Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park in Patna on the occasion of World Rhino Day, Anand Kishor, principal secretary of the Department of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (DEFCC), said, "Rhinos are part of our natural heritage".

Patna Zoo provides rhinos a sense of natural habitat, which facilitates the conservation, he added.

According to a press statement issued by DEFCC, a total of 34 rhinos have been kept in Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, of which 25 are born in the zoo itself.

Notably, World Rhino Day was first organised in 2010.

The occasion connects people across the world so that the five species of rhinos—white, black, one-horned Indian, Sumatran and Javan—capture popular imagination.

One-horned Indian rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) is a wild mammal that is found in northeastern India and the terai region of the Himalayas, including states of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Once standing on the verge of extinction, the number of the species has increased.

Still, the species is facing challenges like habitat destruction and climate change, the statement said.

Kishor said, “Rhino’s conservation is essential to strike an environmental balance as well as to maintain biodiversity”.

He appreciated the conservation and breeding efforts for rhinos.

Kishor also urged people to foster a bond with nature as part of moral support.

On the occasion, students of the Zoology departments of BN College, Patna Women’s College and JD Women’s College participated in a seminar.

Specialists attending the seminar discussed in detail the various species, lifestyle changes, challenges, and conservation efforts made in this direction.

As part of the exchange of wild animals worldwide, Rhinos from India have been sent to various countries, getting other animals in exchange to foster biodiversity, the statement, issued by Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, said. PTI SKS BDC