Barang: A honey badger, which was brought to the Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) from Bhadrak forest range, fled the zoo Tuesday night.
The male honey badger aged around eight years was kept in the quarantine of the veterinary for observation of its health condition. The veterinarians at the zoo examined the animal Wednesday morning and found minor injuries in its head. After treatment the honey badger was kept under direct observation.
The zoo hospital employees Wednesday morning found the animal missing from the quarantine. Although the Nandankanan authorities have began a search operation to find out the honey badger, they failed to trace it.
The honey badger was rescued and brought to the zoo from Sahada village in Bhadrak district January 15.
Notably, this is not an isolated case of fleeing of animals from NZP. Last year, a baby crocodile had gone missing from the zoo.
Meanwhile, it was alleged that although NZP authorities has upgraded the infrastructure of the veterinary hospital and provided adequate facilities to the veterinarians, this incident occurred due to carelessness of the veterinarians.
In a related development, four spotted deer were brought to Nandankanan from Raj Bhawan deer park Wednesday. This is the third phase of translocation of deer which was necessitated following a rise in the deer population at the Governor’s House. The deer were kept in the herbivore safari of the zoo.
PNN