Jammu, Mar 6 (UNI) Jammu and Kashmir will have its first zoo at Manda Deer Park in the outskirts of the city by year 2009, official sources said.

The Wildlife Protection Department is working on the project, the Master Plan of which has been approved by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA).

Over 300 hectare area under Ramnagar Sanctuary (Manda Deek Park) is being developed as the modern semi-natural zoo, which the department claims would be the biggest in northern India.

''Hopefully the zoo will be fully completed by year 2009,'' Regional Warden (Jammu) Nasir Ahmed Kitchloo told UNI.

The zoo infrastructure, he said, will cost Rs 8-10 crore.

''All international standards will be taken into consideration while making the infrastructure,'' Mr Kitchloo added.

For establishing new ''open compartments'' for the wildlife, the department is planning to hire a zoo designer from outside the state, he said.

''In first phase, all the wildlife of the sanctuary will be suitably adjusted in the newly constructed habitat,'' the Regional Warden said, adding the department would bring new species from outside the state in the second phase.

However, no proposal for the allotment of funds for establishing zoo at Manda Deer Park has been made by the Jammu and Kashmir Wildlife Protection Department as yet, CZA Member Secretary B R Sharma told Uni over phone.

The Manda Deer Park is a home to about a dozen local wildlife species, including leopards, ''barking'' bear, deer, wild boar, rhesus monkey and porcupine.

Besides, it also supports 15 avian species, including Indian Mynah, blue rock pigeon, peafowl, red jungle fowl, jungle crow, golden oriole, and white cheeked bulbul.

UNI