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Kolkata's Alipore Zoo christens three baby
giraffe and a hippo

       Kolkata: Hundreds of animal lovers and officials at the Kolkata's Alipore Zoological Gardens were all smiles recently when four new arrivals-three baby giraffes and a hippo-were christened by West Bengal Forest Minister Ananta Ray here. The ceremony of naming the baby animals was held in the presence of a large number of enthusiastic children and animal lovers. Of the three giraffe babies, two are males and one is female. Ray named the males as "Sabuj" and "Hirak" while Miss Giraffe was christened "Trina". The female baby hippo was named Shanti (Peace), which according to the Minister was the most suitable name for anyone on the World Peace Day. Following the directions of the Central Zoo Authority, some hippos were brought from the Mumbai Zoo which was asked to distribute some animals to other state zoos since the number of hippos had increased there. "The male hippo was brought from Mumbai Zoo. Actually, a PIL was filed in the Mumbai Zoo after finding an increase in the number of hippos there. After that, the Central Zoo Authority ordered Mumbai Zoo to distribute the hippos to all state zoos. That's how we got these hippos. This is the first time that the birth of a hippopotamus has taken place in Alipore Zoo," said S K Chaudhary, the Director of Alipore Zoo. The parents of three giraffe babies were brought from Germany . Alipore Zoo now has seven giraffes. Until the mid-1950s, the Alipore Zoo could boast of being the biggest zoological gardens in the country, but of late, it has been criticised by the Central Zoo Authority for having less number of animals.
-Nov 4,  2006

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