Guwahati: An adult female Himalayan serow was brought to the Itanagar Zoo on Tuesday from Kimin in Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh.
A team, led by Dr. Sorang Tadap, a zoo veterinarian at the Biological Park Itanagar, accompanied the animal, with three staff members also involved in the transportation.
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Ngurang Yapa, a local resident, rescued the serow in 2024 from a forest near Kimin town. Since then, Yapa’s family has been caring for the animals at their home.
However, as the serow grew, it became difficult for the family to manage, prompting them to contact the forest department for assistance in transferring the animal to the zoo.
Dr. Tadap had been monitoring the serow’s health and overseeing its transfer to the zoo for several months after Yapa reached out.
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Dr. Tadap confirmed that the animal is in good health and will remain at the zoo for life. “The family cared for the serow for about a year and a half before handing it over to the local forest department. Since it relied on humans for its needs, they couldn’t release it back into the wild,” he explained.
Dr. Tadap further noted that the Himalayan serow is a subspecies of the mainland serow, which the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 lists under Schedule I.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species currently classifies it as “Vulnerable.”
The team will keep the serow under quarantine to ensure its well-being and to prevent any potential health risks to other animals in the zoo, even though the serow is in excellent health.
They conducted the rescue operation with permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden of Arunachal Pradesh, with support from the Itanagar Zoo authority and the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Banderdewa.