Birth control surgeries to check blackbuck population
NEW DELHI: For the first time the National Zoological Park in Delhi will be performing tubectomy and vasectomy on its blackbucks to control their population.
Tubectomy and vasectomy are surgical interventions to control birtth in both humans and animals.
“We have decided to perform tubectomy and vasectomy on blackbucks to control their population which has exceeded the limits. This is the first time that such birth control measures would be adopted at the Delhi zoo,” said Renu Singh, director of Delhi zoo.
While the zoo presently has around 204 blackbucks, according to the zoo’s master plan there should be not more than 20 blackbucks.
“To start with, we would be performing the surgeries on five females and five males. If the surgeries are successful we will perform it on more blackbucks and other deer and antelopes, such as the spotted deer (chital) whose population has also shot up ,” said Abhijit Bhawal, veterinarian of the Delhi zoo, who would be performing the surgeries.
According to the Master Plan, the zoo can keep around 20 chital. The population has shot up to 108.
The zoo authorities have already contacted veterinarians from UP Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Pashu-chikitsa Vigyan Viswavidyalaya Evam Go-anusandhan Sansthan in Mathura. A team of veterinarians from the university had recently visited the Delhi zoo to check the animals.
“We are just waiting peak summer time to be over. Animals remain stressed during this time and such surgeries may not be successful,” said Singh.
Such initiatives have been taken up in some zoos in India in the past, such as the Tata Steel Zoological Park in Jamshedpur in 2011.
Usually three types of birth control measures are adopted in zoos to control the population of herd animals. These are segrega- tion of males and females in separate enclosures, releasing excess population in wild reserves and surgical intervention, which includes tubectomy and vasectomy. “We have already tried out segregation method in which some male and female Blackbucks have been kept in separate enclosures. But in this method animals are deprived of their basic biological needs,” said Singh.
The Delhi Zoo has got the permission of Central Zoo Authority to release some of blackbucks and chitals in wildlife reserves. It would be done according to the guidelines laid down by the International Union fotr Conservation of Nature, the Apex global body on nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.