Name: Venkanna
Sex : male
Date: 28th Dec 1989
Place: Sullurpet , Nellore District , Andhra pradesh .

Of the four elephants exhibited in the zoo three have very interesting stories about them. It is considered mandatory and auspicious to invocate Lord Ganesha ,the elephant headed god before the start of any event , big or small .It was purely coincidental and providential to have the elephant as the first animal of the zoo even before it was fully established .

In the winter of 1989 a calf elephant aged about 8 or 9 years strayed away from its herd . It traveled from the forests of Kuppam of Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh , covering a distance of 300 to 350 kms in about four days to land on the beaches of the Bay of Bengal near Sullurpet . It killed three persons and created havoc while traversing the villages , roads and human habitat enroute .
The place being very close to the Tamilnadu state , help was sought and they pressed into service two 'kumkis' (trained elephants to capture wild elephants). The calf was darted with tranquilizer and brought to the zoo . It was named "Venkanna" after Lord Venkateswara , the world famous deity of the Tirumala hills to stress on the mythological theme of the zoo . It was tamed and trained and later exhibited as the zoo's first exhibit .

Names : Jaya and Vijaya
Sex : male
Date : 1st September 1994
Place : S.V National park

Probably in search of their lost brother Venkanna , two more calves from the same herd landed in the forests joining Chittoor and Cuddapah districts of Andhra Pradesh . This not being their usual habitat and lack of the same sort of food they are used to ,they were straying into human habitations of the area for more than one and a half years . Their movement was being continuously monitored and they finally landed in the abode of Lord Venkateswara and camped in a thick valley called 'Avachari kona'.
The presence of this valley , very close to this foot path was a serious concern to the officials responsible for the safety of the thousands of pilgrims , who visit Tirumala hills on foot daily . The two were captured and brought to the zoo for further care .The two were named Jaya and Vijaya, Tamed and trained . Hindu mythology has it that the names of the two security chiefs guarding the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Venkateswara are also the same .

Name : Ganesh
Sex : male
Date : 24th December 1996
Place : Ramakuppam

Normally the oldest cow-elephant of the herd takes control of the herd and drives away all the matured bull-elephants which join other herds during the breeding season . In these transition periods they are found to roam either singly or in pairs . When such animals are sighted , the uninformed public many times make a lot of hue and cry . They are usually irritated and the animals go on a rampage . Such bulls are sometimes forced to be captured and this one comes under this category . The elephant was captured near Ramakuppam in Kuppam forest range limits of Chittoor district .The elephant was named Ganesh keeping in view the mythological theme of the zoo and was successfully tamed and trained at the zoo .

Name: Bujji
Sex : female
Date : 18th February 1996
Place : NZP

An orphaned cub of a leopard in the Nallamala forests of Kurnool district of Andhra pradesh was handed over to the Nehru zoological park which was hand reared and brought up there . This zoo acquired this animal for its newly constructed enclosure when it was two and a half years old . Bujji has given birth to another cub on 16th June 2000 after mating with Bharat .

A few boys playing cricket in the steel city of Vizag realized that the ball they had hit found the head of an year old leopard cub . The cub fainted on the impact and the curious boys took the animal to the zoo officials there who took good care of the animal . It was later brought to this zoo as the second animal to occupy the leopard enclosure .

One fine morning a leopard cub entered the Hanuman temple at Gandi of Cuddapah district . The villagers attacked it with sticks till it fainted . They later tied it with ropes and brought it to the zoo . Though the external injuries were cured under the constant care of the zoo staff it succumbed to the internal injuries it received during its capture , after about an year .

This leopard fell into a well near a village of Karimnagar district , by accident . The villagers who found this intimated to the forest officials , who rescued it and brought it to Tirupati zoo . This leopard is now the proud mother of two cubs which it has given birth to on 14th May 2000 after mating with the leopard named Balaji .

The natural surroundings in which the zoo is located is also the home for many free ranging animals . Around January '98 there were a few sightings of a free ranging leopard by the zoo staff as well as some visitors too . The ever increasing visits by the leopard started turning violent now with its killings of a jackal and a nilgai or blue bull It was now time for some stern action .
The vigilant zoo staff with its reasonably good experience by now tracked down the animal paths and laid a trap which it eluded for the first time . It was the successful second attempt that caught the animal which was named 'Balaji' This animal the prized possession of Tirupati zoo as the biggest of the lot available with the zoo and perhaps the biggest of such kind in captivity .

One leopard started invading the forest fringing villages of Uravakonda in Anantapur district and ate away two domesticated goats which shocked the villagers into action . They left a bait in a cave in the scrub jungle and waited . As soon as the animal entered the cave the entrance was closed by them and the matter informed to the forest officials who managed to get this into a cage without hurting it. As the leopard was brought from a place called Kasapuram , famous for its Hanuman temple , it was named 'Anjani' after the mother's name of Anjaneya or Hanuman .