The Rajasthan government's forest department has proposed to construct a zoo inside Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary which will be home to rhinos, water buffaloes, crocodiles, dolphins and other exotic species.
Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, also called Keoladeo National Park, is a World Heritage Site.
The zoo will be set up using funds from Agence Francaise de Developpement.
The purpose of this zoo, called Wetland ex-situ Conservation Establishment (WESCE) is “to rejuvenate the bio-diversity of Keoladeo National Park, thereby boosting its outstanding universal values.
About the Keoladeo National Park or Keoladeo Ghana National Park:
The 29 km2 reserve (locally known as Ghana) is a famous avifauna sanctuary in Bharatpur (Rajasthan, India).
It was notified as a bird sanctuary in 1956 and established as a national park in 1982 and is also a World Heritage Site.
It is a wetland (man-made and man-managed) of international importance (a Ramsar site) for migratory waterfowl, where birds migrating down the Central Asian flyway.
This is the only park in India that is completely enclosed by a 2 m high boundary wall that minimises the possibilities of any encroachment and biotic disturbances, but there is no possibility of a buffer zone.