Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has directed the forest department to speed up the process to procure new tiger pair for the Bondla Zoo- the only zoo in the State.

Parrikar is also Minister for Forest and Environment.

Sources said that directions have been issued to ensure that the new pair of tiger is in place before April-May, next year.

The department has already written to Dr Shivaram Karnath Biological Park, Mangaluru and ‘Mysuru Zoo’ for procuring new pair of tigers in exchange of either a Bison family or Deer family.

Bondla zoo lost their former pair of tigers Rana and Sandhya, the major attraction of the zoo.

Rana died in December 2016, while Sandhya breathed her last in July, this year. The former pair was brought in from Indira Gandhi Zoological Park, Vishakhapatnam in 2009.

The zoo authorities at Bondla said that the tigers were the main attraction of the zoo, with most visitors were here to see the tigers. In 2016-17, the zoo saw 1.13 lakh visitors that included 36,000 students and children, 74,000 adults and 1912 foreigners.