Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park is located in Katraj, managed by Pune Municipal Corporation. Rajiv Gandhi Zoo or Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park is a 130 acre zoo divided into three parts: an animal orphanage, a snake park, and a zoo.
Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park includes Katraj Lake, which is 42 acres lake comprised of 72 hectares. In 1953, Pune Municipal Corporation created Peshwe Park on about 7 acres where Madhavrao Peshwe had established a private menagerie in 1770. Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park is located in the heart of the city at the base of the Parvati hills. This zoo exhibited animals in traditional cages.
In 1986, Neelam Kumar Khaire with assistance from the Pune Municipal Corporation, created the Katraj Snake Park on land that was to become the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park. Neelam Kumar Khaire is the first supervisor of Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park.
Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park was opened to the public in 1999 as the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park and Wildlife Research Centre, and initially included only the reptile park, sambars, spotted deer, and monkeys. Although it took until 2005, all of the animals from Peshwe Park were eventually moved to the new site, and Peshwe Park was closed.
Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park also incorporates a liberation centre for injured and orphaned animals. It has run an Animal Adoption Scheme since October 2010.
This zoo in Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park has a good collection of reptiles, mammals, and some birds. The zoo has a white tiger and a male tiger named, "Tanaji". Other mammals at the zoo include leopard, sloth bears, sambhars, barking deer, black bucks, peafowl, monkeys, and elephants. The reptiles of Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park include Indian rock python, cobra, snakes, vipers, and Indian crocodiles. The amphibians of Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park such as Indian star tortoise also feature in the zoo.
The snake park of Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park, which is also known as Katraj Snake Park has a large collection of snakes, reptiles, birds and turtles. There are over 160 species of snakes, including a nine foot long King Cobra. The Katraj Snake Park in Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park has organized many snake festivals and snake awareness programs to clarify doubts and destroy fears about this species. During Nagpanchami, one of the Indian festivals, the Katraj Snake Park at Pune arranges programs to discourage ill-treatment towards snakes.
Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park is located along the Pune Satara Highway near the Bharati Vidyapeeth University. Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park is 8 kilometres from Pune, close to the Katraj Bus Depot.
