Tigers, leopards, and bears to be brought to Kurumbapatti zoological park by March 2027

A few does at Kurumbapatti zoological park in Salem as seen on Sunday. | Photo Credit: E. LAKSHMI NARAYANAN The Forest Department is taking steps to bring tigers, leopards, and bears to the Kurumbapatti zoological park by March 2027.The 50-year-old Kurumbapatti Zoological Park at Yercaud Foothills, which is recognised by the Central Zoo Authority as a small category zoo, spreads over 31.73 hectares and houses 320 wild animals, including nine varieties of birds, nine varieties of mammals and five varieties of reptiles.The park attracts around 1.50 lakh visitors a year. In July, the department, with the consent from the Central Zoo Authority, brought four black bucks (one male and three female), four Nilgai (two males and two females) and golden jackals (a male and a female) to the Kurumbapatti zoological park recently from Bannerughatta Biological Park in Bengaluru in Karnataka.Now the department is taking steps to upgrade the park into the medium category. As part of this, it got consent from the Central Zoo Authority to bring tigers, leopards, and bears to the park and to establish enclosures for these animals. The department officials said that steps were taken on a war-footing to bring these three wild animals in the next five months. For constructing enclosures for these animals, funds were sought from the State government.For a pair of tigers, an enclosure is to be established on 1,000 square metres. Even if the park is not upgraded as a medium category zoo, there are no issues in bringing these animals to the park and maintaining them, officials added. Published - November 01, 2026 07:41 pm IST