The Hindu : Karishma finds her Rajah

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 13, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Karishma finds her Rajah

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM SEPT. 12. The six-year-old tigress, Karishma, which was brought here from the Mysore Zoo three months ago, has been released into the open enclosure in the City Zoo along with 11-year-old Rajah, the existing male.

For the past three months, Karishma and Rajah were being housed in nearby cages in the Animal House, which is well away from the viewing area, were they could see each other and get used to each other's company.

Karishma was introduced first into the enclosure, which is called `field' in Zoo parlance, after the water in the tank inside was pumped out. ``The tigress was not used to water at Mysore and we did not want to run any risk by exposing her to the tank,'' said the Zoo Superintendent, Harikumar.

He said that initially, the duo were very hostile towards each other and used to snarl whenever they came face to face across the iron bars. ``We tried to put the two together once in the Animal House, but they started fighting and we had to hurriedly separate them,'' Mr. Harikumar said.

The Big Cats are being put in the `field' between 10 a.m. and 3-30 p.m. at present. If there is a spat between them, the keepers are near at hand to intervene. ``It involves a lot of risk management, you see. We dare not leave them together for longer periods as yet,'' explains Mr. Harikumar.

A six-year-old male, Bharat, which belongs to the same litter as Karishma, had also been brought here along with Karishma as part of the zoo's plan to encourage breeding of the Big Cats. The Zoo now has five tigers, two females and three males.

Bharat has been paired off with eleven-year-old Rani and both are being housed in cages in the Animal House at present. These two Big Cats are learnt to be less hostile to each other than Karishma and Rajah, according to the Zoo authorities.

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