Ahmedabad airport was agog late Wednesday night with the sounds of various animals who had been transported from South Africa in a Russian cargo plane for Asia’s largest zoo which is in the last phase of development in Jamnagar. The animals have now been transported to Jamnagar.

Reliance Industries is setting up a zoo in 300 acres in Jamnagar which is expected to be completed by 2023. For this zoo, as many as 95 different animals such as tigers, cheetahs, bears, jaguars, and porcupines were brought from South Africa. Among the 95 animals that arrived, 27 were tigers. This was perhaps the first occasion when animals in such large numbers have arrived at the Ahmedabad airport.

The animals were brought in special cages in the nine-hour long flight and arrangements were made to provide proper food to the animals during the flight. A certain temperature was also maintained during the flight using special air conditioners to protect the animals from the heat of the summer season.

The cargo plane arrived at the airport in the night so that animals did not get exposed to the sun’s heat during the day. In order to ensure that the cargo plane carrying the animals did not cause any hindrance to other flights, it was parked at bay No. 36. The customs formalities were completed for all animals. In order to ‘rescue’ the animals from the cargo plane, as many as 20 trailers were arranged around it. Forest department officials remained present at the time of ‘rescuing’ the animals. One more flight carrying exotic animals and birds is expected to arrive at the Ahmedabad airport on June 1. DeshGujarat