Darjeeling: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given names to newborn snow leopards and red pandas during her Darjeeling visit.
The snow leopards have been named 'Charming and Darling' while the four red pandas were named 'Healy', 'Paharia', 'Victory' and 'Dream'.
On the third day of her hill tour, Banerjee took a morning walk from Richmond Hill to Darjeeling Zoo (Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park). She spoke to the forest and zoo authorities at the gate.
It was during this that the topic of naming the cubs came up. Banerjee instantly gave names to two snow leopards and four red pandas. The zoo authorities had earlier approached the CM to name the cubs.
Banerjee was accompanied by member secretary of state forest department Saurabh Chowdhury, director of Darjeeling Zoo Basbaraj Holeyachi, minister Arup Biswas and others.
Red panda couple 'Neera' and 'Teesta' gave birth to four cubs in August and they are currently in Singalila National Park. Later that month, a 13-year-old snow-leopard named 'Zimba' gave birth to a pair of cubs in Darjeeling Zoo.
This is not the first time that Banerjee has named animals. Earlier, the CM had named three Royal Bengal cubs of Bengal Safari Park. The tiger cubs were named 'Kika', 'Rika' and 'Ika'. Among whom, 'Ika' later died. Banerjee even named a lion couple brought from Tripura's Sipahijala Zoo, 'Suraj' and 'Tanaya'.
Saurabh Chowdhury said, "The Chief Minister had already been requested to name the cubs. We are happy that she has given names to the six cubs. The CM also spoke to the new traders of the shops under the zoo."
Zoo director Basbaraj Holeyachi said, "During her hill visit, CM came to the zoo for a short period and named the snow leopards and red pandas."
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