Darjeeling: State Forest minister on a tour of the Darjeeling Hills visited Sandakphu in the Singalila National Park. Located at an altitude of 3636m, Sandakphu is the highest point in the state of Bengal.
The minister stated that the trip to Sandakphu was part of her official itinerary. “Ground visits are very important. I wanted to see for myself how our staff work in this difficult terrain on ground zero.
I interacted with them and found out the problems and difficulties they face,” stated the minister while talking to Millennium Post. She also visited the red panda soft release facility at Gairibans below Sandakphu.
This facility is an important component of the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park’s (Pnhzp- Darjeeling zoo) Red Panda conservation programme. The zoo bred red pandas ready for release in the wild are kept here before release. It has vast open enclosures to simulate conditions in the wild.
After having arrived at Lepcha Jagat in Darjeeling on March 21, the minister headed straight for Sadakphu. On March 23, she returned to Darjeeling. “I visited the Darjeeling Zoo.
We discussed what other value addition can be done in future for research, conservation and also in the way of exhibiting more species as directed by the Chief Minister. On multiple occasions, I visited the Darjeeling Zoo in the past. It is doing a commendable job,” added the minister. On December 23, 2024, Birbaha Hansda visited the Darjeeling Zoo and inaugurated the newly-constructed biobanking facility, pathology lab and skeleton museum.
On December 28, Millennium Post was the first to publish news of the Darjeeling Zoo set to become the first zoo in the country to freeze gametes, tissues, genetic material in liquid nitrogen in freezers for future use in conservation activities and research using the biobanking facility. Biobank is like a frozen zoo and has immense possibilities. Pnhzp will be collecting and freezing ova, sperm, tissue samples of endangered species. Later on when the facility is on a more advanced stage, in case an animal is near extinction, these gametes can be used and through surrogacy the animals can be brought back.
Through the genetic material and tissues collected genetic sampling can be done, facilitating uses on the lines of DNA fingerprinting also.
On Tuesday, the minister will be visiting Bagora and the Breeding Facility at Dowhill, Kurseong on her way back to Kolkata. At Dowhill, endangered birds and herbivores are bred by the Pnhzp.
Founded in 1958, the Pnhzp was adjudged the best zoo in the country across all categories in September 2022.
The Pnhzp is successfully engaged in the conservation breeding of 10 endangered species including Red Panda, Snow Leopard, Blue Sheep, Himalayan Tahr, Himalayan Wolf, Salamander, Monal,