Master Planning of Zoos - Central Zoo Authority

Photo: Brij Kishor Gupta
Welcome Address
by Sri Suresh Chandra Mohanty
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife)
& Chief Wildlife Warden, Orissa
I have the honour to extend most hearty
welcome to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Orissa
to Nandankanan Zoo. He has always revealed very
lively interest in matters related to wildlife and
zoo and spared his valuable time to be here to
inaugurate this All India Zoo Directors’ Training
Programme.
I welcome the esteemed Additional Director
General of Forests (Wildlife), Govt.of India , Mr.
R.P.S. Katwal, President of this inaugural function
who is moving force behind this programme.
I welcome Mr. B.R. Sharma, Member Secretary,
Central Zoo Authority and convey our gratitude
to him for giving us this opportunity to host by
selecting Nandankanan as a venue for this unique
programme.
I extend a very cordial welcome to Sri S.P. Nanda,
Principal Secretary to Govt. of Orissa, Forest and
Environment Department to grace this occasion.
I extend a very cordial welcome to the Hon’ble
Member of Parliament, Sri Prasanna Kumar
Patsani for having come here to grace the occasion
as a guest of honour .
Our hearty welcome goes out to all the Zoo
Directors and Managers of Zoo, the resource
persons from Wildlife Institute of India and from
abroad and all esteemed invitees who are here in
this inaugural function.
It is a mandate of the National Zoo Policy and Zoo
Rules that every zoo has a long-term
master plan. A master plan sets the vision for the
zoo and sets out to prepare for blue print of action
to achieve the various goals. Preparing the master
plan is no doubt a highly professional job. This is
an attempt to present the state of the art on this
subject. This is, therefore, a very timely and
creditable initiative on the part of Central Zoo
Authority to launch such a training programme.
The way things are going in the wild, one would
suppose that the future for endangered wild
animals lies in the zoo. It may sound highly
futuristic but if we have to preserve our animals ,
the management of zoos has to be much more
scientific. The scientific infrastructure has to be
considerably strengthened. Planned breeding and
exchange of animals and record keeping of sources
and lineage are some of the aspects, required to
be strengthened. The concept of environmental
enrichment should extend to all animal enclosures
to simulate the required habitat conditions for each
animal. Master planning should seek to integrate
the aspects of conservation, education, research
and recreation. This training progaramme, I hope
, will provide the ambience and the opportunity
for exchange of ideas and information and for
sharing of knowledge and skill.
I would once again welcome to the participants
and resource persons and hope that they will have
pleasant memorable stay in this temple city of
Bhubaneswar.
Welcome to you all.
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