The overflowing water from the Mir Alam tank anicut has flooded the Nehru Zoological Park, forcing officials to shut down the facility on Thursday. “There is no threat to animals. We have closed down the zoo temporarily so that visitors don’t have a bad experience. The animals have been moved to their night shelters and they are safe,” said Shivani Dogra, curator of the zoo.
Earlier in August also, zoo officials were forced to shut down the safari as muddy water from the lake flooded the area posing a hygiene threat to animals. “It has been raining since yesterday, we opened for sometime when the water flooded in and we had to close the zoo. Usually, some water enters the zoo area due to seepage from the tank walls and there are channels and ponds in the zoo for draining it. But this time, the flooding is more,” said Ms. Shivani.
The road that meanders inside the park is flooded near the safari entry gate. The lion moat, bear moat and dingy pond are also flooded.
The water in the moats is lapping the animal enclosures. zoo officials are pumping out water as well as cleaning the natural drainage channels.
The more than 200-year-old Mir Alam tank, which is on the southern side of the zoo, was supervised by English engineers, and it used to be spread over 400 acres but has now shrunk due to encroachments on almost all sides. “The zoo is on a sloping ground and there is a gradient so we cannot do much about the water flooding in,” Ms. Shivani said.
“We would like to reopen the zoo tomorrow, but it looks difficult considering the amount of water that has to be drained out. And it is not just draining of water, visitors should have a pleasant experience,” said a zoo official unwilling to speculate when the facility can be reopened.
