lonely leopard caged with out a partner

Single at ten can sure be lonely - at least if it is in case a leopard whose life span is not more than 20 years. But he is helpless because he has been caged in a cell of the Deer Park located in Sambalpur town about 270 km from the Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Orissa. Yes, ‘Nikon’, the bachelor leopard is in search of its female partner since it attained maturity in 2006. But the search is still going on because of the ‘triviality’ of the Deer park authority who clearly violets zoo rules for keeping the wildcat deprived of from its biological needs.
Sources from wildlife department said, the leopard was rescued in 1999 from a poacher at Rairakhol when it was a cub of 10 days old. “It was in a critical condition and in needs of extreme care when we rescued him .so I had decided to keep it in my residence to ensure proper treatment. But it was my wife who took the active role to save the cub, than DFO (wildlife) Mr. SC Mishra told. The cub remained for about 6 months and shifted to the deer park of Sambalpur on august 15th 2000. “I remembered the day I went to deer park to see ‘Nikon’. It was two days after he parted us. But the way he hugged me and slept on my shoulder I could guess he was not happy with this new home”, Mrs., Sandhya Rani, the wife of the former DFO told. But there was no alternative” she added.
“I feel sorry for him as the department has not yet provided a partner. “This is not only a violation of the Zoo rules but also it is inhuman not to provide basic needs”, Mr. Suresh Chandra Mishra told.
According to the Zoo rules, no animal can be kept alone in a zoo with out providing a partner. Providing basic requirement to the animal is mandatory for a zoo. The Zoo rules framed by the central government under section 38H of the wildlife (protection) act 1972 emphasizes not to keep any wildlife alone for more than one year with out providing a partner. The rules says
“Every zoo shall keep the animals in viable, social groups. No animal will be kept without a mate for a period exceeding one year unless there is a legitimate reason for doing so or if the animal has already passed its prime and is of no use for breeding purposes. In the event of a zoo failing to find a mate for any single animal within this period, the animal shall be shifted to some other place according to the directions of the Central Zoo Authority” ( clause 37 of section 10 of the Zoo Rules 1992) Now the Deer Park authority does not give any sufficient reason for the delay in providing a partner to the leopard. They even do not take the matter seriously. “We have not yet procured a female partner as it is quite difficult but we are in search of it and soon we bring one once we get it”, the DFO ( Hirakud wildlife) Mr. D K Swain told. However since the leopard has already attained maturity, the DFO Mr. Swain has convinced the need of a female partner.

ajit nayak from sambalpur

mayawati assured upper caste reservation

Bahujan Samaj party is the only party in the country that thinks for the underprivileged and poor people. So their condition will remain unchanged till the country is ruled over by the congress or BJP and their allies. Even after 61 years the country’s independence the government fails to provide basic amenities to the SC/ST and minorities people of the country. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister BSP president Mayawati assured the people a change in the country if she comes to the power in the centre this time.

“We have already changed the condition in Uttar Pradesh and now it is time for the whole country to experience the changes”, Mayawati appealed while addressing a large gathering in her first ever visits to Sambalpur. The PM aspirant Mayawati landed in Jamadarpali air stripe in a charter plane and from Jamadarpali she came to the helipad in a helicopter, specially created adjacent to the meeting place at PHD ground, covering a distance of just 15 km. She reached to the meeting place amidst tight security escorted by hundreds of armed security in a car.

Ms Mayawati in her 30 minutes address came down heavily on the congress and BJP as these parties terming them as “Birodhi parties’ and warned the voters not to listen their luring announcement during the election time. “These ‘birodhi parties’ are only to purchase your votes by spending crores of rupees and they never think for your development after election”, Mayawati told. However she did not say any thing about the state politics and about the state chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD.

Referring to the growing of crimes and Naxalism in the country Mayawati affirmed that poverty and disparity in the social status has led to such situation and ‘unless we provide employment to the youths we can not solve the problem’, she stressed.

Maywati told that her party has aimed for equality in the social status of the people of the country and so she has taken people from all groups including the upper caste and minorities. She advocated a reservation to the poor unemployment youths belonging to the upper caste. “But this is possible only after requisite changes in the central government policy. We will do it once BSP comes in the centre”, she declared.

During the meeting Mayawati declared names 14 candidates selected by the party to contest in the ensuing lok sabha constituencies where polling will be held on the first phase. “We have decided to contest all 21 Lok Sabha and 147 assembly seats with our own strength with out depending any other parties. We will declare the names of other candidates very soon” she said.

Ajit Nayak from Sambalpur

mayawati in sambalpur