Maha: Mumbai zoo to get two tigers from Aurangabad

A pair of tigers will be shifted from here to Mumbai's Byculla Zoo on Tuesday, an official said.

The pair of felines, named Shakti and Karishma, are currently lodged at Siddharth Garden and Zoo in Maharashtra's Aurangabad city, its superintendent B S Naikwade told PTI.

"They will get a new home in Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan And Zoo (popularly known as Byculla Zoo) in Mumbai in exchange of four spotted deers," he said.

Tiger Shakti was born in November 2016 while tigress Karishma was born in July 2014, he informed. The Siddharth Zoo here has 13 tigers, whereas the Central Authority has permitted only nine striped animals to be kept at the facility.

Earlier, there were nine felines at the zoo. A tigress, named Samruddhi, gave birth to four cubs in April last year, taking the total number of the big cats in the facility to 13, the official said.

"The zoos at Solapur and Mumbai sometime back sought a pair of tigers, but preference was given to the demand made by the facility in the state capital," Naikwade said. In return, the Siddharth Zoo will get two male and two female spotted deers, he added.

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