Lions at the Pratapsinh Udyan Zoo, Sangli.

By Rahul S. Walawalkar .

(This report was written in 2000, and since then there have been significant improvements made in the Pratapsinh Udyan conditions, including renovation of zoo, and transfer of various animals to different zoos in India. I will upload some new pictures of the zoo in next update.)

Sangli Miraj Kupwad Municipal Corporation’s (S-M-K M.C.) Pratapsinh Udyan Zoo is the only zoo in Sangli – Kolhapur region. The zoo was constructed on the land donated by His Highness Chintamanrao Patwardhan in the year 1959.

Pratapsinh Udyan began functioning way back in 1960 by keeping Rabbits & pigeons for the entertainment of children. Mr. Chopade, a then Sangli Municipal Council (SMC) employee, donated a solitary female leopard to the zoo in 1961. This encouraged other residents to give variety of animals like foxes, peacocks & other birds.

The Sangli Municipal Council procured a male leopard, a hybrid lion pair (Ragunandan & Janaki) & a pair of spotted deer, from the Mysore Zoo, in the early 70’s. Mr. Vyankappa Kulkarni was the Garden Superintendent at that time. Initially the space & the facilities were adequate for keeping one or two animals, belonging to each species.

Since last 10-15 years, the increasing number of lions has become a major cause of concern for the Zoo Authorities. In the year 1983, 13 lions were transferred to the lion safari at Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai. The lion Safari still houses a significant number of lions of the ‘Sangli Pride’.

As a student of Walchand College of Engineering & adviser of the Walchand wildlife club, I visited the zoo for the first time in December 1995, along with Mr. Manjit Warwandkar. In December 1995, the zoo had 28 lions.

The lions were kept in cages of size 7 * 8 feet each. The zoo had 4 big enclosures of 20 * 25 feet, each of which housed 3 to 4 lions.