Central Zoo Authority has asked Coimbatore Corporation why it should not revoke the recognition it gave to the VOC Park Mini Zoo. It has asked the Corporation to submit a report on action taken on issues it has raised.
The CZA’s Member Secretary D.N. Singh has told the Corporation Commissioner why the recognition to the zoo should not be cancelled under the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act.
The notice comes even as the Coimbatore Corporation has been trying to renew its licence since 2013.
Sources and activists in the know of things said that the CZA had sent the letter, dated June 22, 2016, citing Section 38 H of the Act, which states that no zoo shall be operated without being recognised by the authority (CZA). Mr. Singh has also asked the Commissioner to inform the CZA within six months on the action the Corporation had taken on five issues it had raised. The five issues that the CZA had raised were the result of an inspection a CZA official conducted sometime in February this year.
The issues included the failure to maintain the footpath size and use of disinfectants, implement animal birth control measures, obtain permission to accommodate rescued animals/birds and submit master plan.
In the notice, Mr. Singh had also said that VOC Park Mini Zoo officials had also violated other provisions of the Recognition of Zoo Rules, 2013.
He had also warned that if the Corporation did not respond within six months, the CZA would construe that the Corporation had nothing to say in the matter and would initiate appropriate action under the Wildlife Protection Rules to revoke recognition to the zoo.
Sources familiar with the issue said that the notice did not surprise them at all as the state of affairs in the zoo had turned for the worse. Since November-December 2015, the zoo had been without a director.
A sanitary inspector held additional charge of the day-to-day functioning and a veterinarian from the Animal Husbandry Department provided veterinary care only as and when needed.
To fill the void, wildlife enthusiasts chipped in and they made a host of suggestions like not allowing eatables and keeping prey and predator far away from one another to minimise stress on the animals.
The Corporation accepted some of those and also began improving basic infrastructure like replacing damaged nets. But it did little to relocate the zoo, an issue hanging fire for the last few years.
The activists said that the Corporation should show earnestness in improving the zoo as it was one of the very few managed by local bodies in the State.
Corporation officials said they would respond to the CZA letter. The zoo had over 900 mammals, reptiles and birds.
