8 zebras released in Gazipur safari park

Eight of the nine zebras recovered from a makeshift cattle shed near the border in Jessore were released into Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park in Gazipur today.

The African zebras were taken to the park around 2:00pm as one of those animals died later, our Gazipur correspondent reports quoting Motaleb Mia, the in-charge of the park.

A team of Detective Branch of police yesterday conducted a raid at Satmail Bazar area in Sharsha upazila and found 10 zebras in the cattle shed owned by one Nur Hossain Tutu. One of the animals was dead.

The animals, worth around Tk one crore, were brought into the country for smuggling them into India, according to the law enforcers.

The animals are being normally fed as those are feeble, said Dr Nizam Uddin, livestock resources officer of the park.

Their age would be three to three-and-half years but zebras usually reach adulthood at the age of four to five years, he said.

The animals will be kept in quarantine for three weeks for screening diseases and later will be released with the other zebras in the park, the official added.

With the inclusion of these eight, the number of zebras in the park now stands at 22.