Jaipur to have country's third bear rescue centre

Jaipur, Aug 7 (UNI) Jaipur will soon have the country's third bear rescue centre at Nahargarh biological park.

A proposal by NGO Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) to house 100 bears at this rescue centre has been given to the state government. WTI's objective is to save the steadily vanishing bear species by providing them a natural habitat at Nahargarh's rescue centre.

Illegal poaching and environment-related factors are the major reasons behind the beers becoming endangered. India has now less than 2000 bears, most of which are owned by street jugglers.

In this regard, WTI has asked for 20 hectares of forest area at Nahargarh biological park. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will soon be signed between the state government and the WTI.

Manoj Parashar, deputy chief wildlife warden, told UNI ''The first phase of inspection of the site has already been conducted by WTI. But the processing of the proposal will take time as it will have to go through the formalities.'' The project envisages housing 25 bears at the rescue centre initially which will later be increased to 75. Bears freed from circus, poachers and jugglers will be brought to this centre. Health check-ups, vaccinations and constant monitoring of their healths and habits will be done here.

India's two other bear rescue centres are at Agra and Arunachal Pradesh.

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