To protect the 'critically- endangered' gharials from extinction, 12 captive-bred crocodiles have been released in the Gandak river near Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar, officials said.
As part of a restocking programme of the Bihar forest department with technical collaboration from Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), the fish-eating crocodiles are being bred and reared in the Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park of Patna.
"One of the important objectives of any zoo, apart from conservation, is linking of ex citu conservation to in citu conservation. That is the reason why Bihar Forest Department contemplated this idea of relocating gharials, which breed successfully in Patna Zoo, to the wild where their population is too low," Director, Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, S Chandrashekar said in a statement.
The gharial is listed as a 'Critically Endangered' species in the IUCN Red List and falls under 'Schedule I' of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act.
One of the largest living crocodiles which can grow upto six metres in length, it is estimated that only about 200 breeding individuals of the species survive in the wild today.
