Nehru zoo to review safety steps

Incident of mauling at Delhi zoo comes as a wakeup call. In the last two years, the zoo has also improved the stand-off barrier at the big cat and primate enclosures. Also, at the visitors’ area in these zones, four levels of hindrances were incorporated.

WHOSE FAULT IS IT ANYWAY? The Delhi Zoo incident in which a young boy was mauled by a tiger reminds of some of the enthusiastic visitors playing dangerously with the animals in enclosure in the zoo like this one in the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad. Photo: V.V. Subrahmanyam

Nehru Zoological Park in the capital city has decided to take stock of security arrangements at the facility, spread over 380 acres, following the incident at National Zoological Park, New Delhi, where a youth was mauled to death by a white tiger on Tuesday.

Maintaining that appropriate safety and security apparatus was in place at the facility here, P. Mallikarjuna Rao, Director of Zoological Parks, Telangana said the Delhi incident, however, would be treated as a wake-up call to review the arrangements. “We will review all safety aspects and ask our staff to be more alert and vigilant,” he said.

In the 1990s, two boys who ventured into the safari park area of the zoo by climbing the perimeter wall were mauled to death after which a series of measures were introduced that included raising the height of boundary walls. “We also installed concertina coil along the perimeter wall to deter trespassing,” he said.

In the last two years, the zoo has also improved the stand-off barrier at the big cat and primate enclosures. Also, at the visitors’ area in these zones, four levels of hindrances were incorporated. “We have barrier, hedge, moat and then a trench which reduce the possibility of one trying to get to the actual animal area,” he said.

Mr. Rao observed that required security personnel were deployed at the zoo and on Sundays and public holidays when the number of visitors increase, the services of Zoo Corps volunteers were being roped in.