India implements wildlife exchanges and grassland restoration projects

The Central Zoo Authority has approved a wildlife exchange program involving Nagpur’s Gorewada project to manage overcrowding. Under the plan, tigers and leopards from Gorewada will be transferred to zoos in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Pune. In return, Gorewada will receive Himalayan black bears from Nagaland and red jungle fowl from Himachal Pradesh to improve species management.

In a separate conservation effort, a large-scale ecosystem restoration project is underway in the 2,600 sq. km Banni Grassland of Kutch. As part of this initiative, 20 blackbucks are being relocated from the Greens Zoological, Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in Jamnagar to Banni. The project, a collaboration between the Gujarat Forest Department and the Greens Zoological center, focuses on rebuilding entire ecological processes rather than just increasing individual species numbers.