Agartala, March 6 (TIWN): A month long training of three elephants and six “mahouts” started today at Sepahijala wild life sanctuary, said K. G Bhowmik, Director to TIWN. He stated that the training team is led by Deepak Kalita an expert trainer from Assam Zoo. The training is given as part of the plan of the sanctuary authority to start elephant safari for attracting more visitors.

 Besides  golf cars would also  be launched in  the zoo soon for attracting visitors. After getting the approval of National Zoo Authority it would be launched in the state’s zoo. Initially, there is proposal of two 11 – seat golf cars and talks are on with ONGC to have it from next financial year.

A treaty has been signed in this regard with four other major zoos of the country – Mysore, Banarghat, Rajkot, Itanagar. Exchange of animals would also take place between the zoos who signed the treaty. It includes - Royal Bengal tiger, lion, Hyena, bison, nilghai, white peacock, ullock, rhino, and different species of deers. In return, Sepahijala zoo will give bears, clouded leopards, and different species of monkeys.

A state-of-the-art wildlife veterinary hospital has been proposed at the Sepahijala zoo. A proposal had been sent to the State government seeking Rs. 4 crore for modernizing the existing hospital al. The state veterinary college had agreed to set up a hi-tech laboratory and send its students to study the wild animals, sources added.

The Sepahijala Wildlife Sanctuary is located around 35kms from Agartala, the capital city of Tripura. The sanctuary was incepted in the year 1987 as a measure to protect the wildlife of the place. The sanctuary covers an area of around 18.53sq.kms and abounds in varied type of vegetation cover.