GANGTOK, 17 May: Newborn and rescued animals rehabilitated at the Himalayan Zoological Park here above Gangtok were baptized on State Day. The special event started with prayers by a Hindu priest and a Buddhist monk and was also attended by the Forest Minister, Bhim Dhungel and Forest department officers.
The first animal to named was a female goral born in the zoo on 14 March to Muskan and Jai. She will be called “Kananbala”, a name which means, as the Minister informed, “daughter of forest”. The calf was released by the Minister into its 1000 sq. mt. enclosure. The zoo now has four gorals, one of which was rescued from feral dogs.
Next, female clouded leopard, “rescued” by the zoo keepers on 02 September last year, was named “Kamsun”, a name which translates as ‘master of three elements’.
