Shiva’s keeper breaks drown after finally caging him
Mumbai’s only rhino leaves for Delhi after 28 years in Byculla zoo
Shiva, the rhino, was finally trapped in a cage on Sunday morning. The Byculla zoo authorities were trying to lure him into the cage with a bunch of bananas for the past four days but the animal would step back after half-entering the cage.
Zoo-keepers finally realised that he was doing so because the floor of the cage creaked when the rhino stepped on it. ``Rhinos are sensitive to noise and get alerted whenever they hear an unfamiliar sound,’’ said Prakash Kadam, a zoo-keeper. On Sunday, the floor was screwed properly and Shiva entered it fully to eat fresh grass.
``We did not close the cage as soon as he entered the cage. We let him eat the grass. As he was midway through his meal, we slowly shut the cage door,’’ said Ramesh Pawar, who took care of the animal for the past 28 years.
``When Shiv realised that he had been caged, he struggled but the cage was too narrow for him to exert any force,’’ said Pawar, who had tears in his eyes. He was so overcome with emotion that they could not face the TV cameras.
According to him, Shiva had realised that something was wrong as he was not allowed to roam free in the last four days.
The cage was lifted using a crane and lowered into a truck headed for Delhi zoo, where Shiva will get a chance to mate after spending 28 years in celibacy in Byculla zoo. ``If he has an offspring, it will be given to us,’’ said Anil Anjankar, director of Byculla zoo.
A veterinary surgeon from Delhi zoo, Paneerselvam, and six caretakers are accompanying him to Delhi. The expenses for this are Rs 1.5 lakh.
Many children bid farewell to Shiva when his truck left at 4 pm. The zoo keepers too had gathered at the gate to bid farewell to Shiva, who was the star attraction of the zoo.
Shiva will travel through Baroda, Ahmedabad, Udaipura and Jaipur on his way to Delhi. The journey is expected to last four days. The vet said that the journey would be only during the day as the headlights during the night cause distress to the animal.