Surat zoo’s 5 captive-bred otters to be exchanged for Bengal tigers from Odisha

The Surat Municipal Corporation-run Dr Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Zoological Garden (Nature Park and Zoo) will get a pair of Bengal tigers from Odisha’s Nandankanan Zoological Park in exchange for smooth-coated otters. One of the silver linings amid the devastating 2006 floods in Surat was the finding of a pair of otters in the floodwaters. Since then, this municipal zoo in the Sarthana area has seen captive breeding of this species of otters, taking the numbers up to 61 to become the only zoo in the country reporting such an event. Wildlife Superintendent Dr Rajesh Patel told The Indian Express, “Presently we have 36 otters, which includes 21 puppies (8 females and 13 males) and 15 adults (nine males and six females). In the last two years, 21 puppies were born in our captive breeding cen