Rescued Aussie Kangaroos recovering in Siliguri Park

SNS, SILIGURI, 4 APRIL 2022: Three sub-adult kangaroos undergoing treatment at Bengal Safari: North Bengal Wild Animal Park near Siliguri have been shifted to the enclosure there. The kangaroos were rescued from two separate locations near the Baikunthapur forest before they could be smuggled out on the night of I April. The carcass of another kangaroo was also found the next day. The kangaroos were under treatment in the hospital at the park, and they were given saline initially, as, officials said, they were all dehydrated. 'They are in a state of recovery. However, one of the kangaroos is st ill weak. We shifted them in the enclosure today. They are now eating  watermelons, bananas, but they like to eat apples more. We keep a close observation on them. Veterinary doctors are examining them," said the director of the park, Dawa Sangmu Sherpa.

Sources said the diet chart for them was being followed as per the Alipore Zoo.

About a fort night ago from the day of the latest recovery, forest officials seized one Kangaroo from the Bengal-Assam border in Alipurduar district. The person who was arrested produced a 'supply order' from the Indore Zoo.

The forest department had earlier rescued animals like geckos, pangolins, red sand boa and seized a number of wildlife articles, including the skin of the Royal Bengal Tigers, leopards, elephant tusks, snake venom, tiger bones, rhino horns, mostly through the Siliguri corridor, starting from the Northeast.

"Wildlife smugglers prefer the to-and-fro Nepal-North Bengal-Bangladesh-Bhutan corridor as their route. The Siliguri corridor, having close proximity with Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan, has emerged as the most vulnerable to smuggling of wildlife articles. The articles are smuggled to China mostly through Bhutan and Nepal," a wildlife expert said. Among the three kangaroos, two are male and the other female. Foresters had earlier said that the three kangaroos arc likely to he sent to the Alipore zoo in Kolkata. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea and they are not found in the wild in India, but only in a few zoos in the country