In view of the growing number of visitors to the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park, the authorities have taken up a large-scale revamp of the facilities, zoo curator G. Ramalingam has said.
The roads inside the park were being widened and paved, and new benches being set up for the convenience of the visitors, he said.
The auspicious ‘Kartika masam’ saw the number of visitors to the zoo zoom, and last Sunday there were more than 30,000 crowd. RTC too cooperated and ran some special buses to the zoo on that day. On all the four Sundays during the auspicious month, the Simhachalam Devasthanam parked its ‘Chaitanya Ratham’ outside to add to the spirit of celebrations of the visitors. While most of the visitors were picnickers, children went around the enclosures, he said. While it was good that so many people got an opportunity to see the animals in the zoo, such a high volume of visitors sometimes creates problem for the animals. Some of the children have a tendency to call out to the animals and some vandals even throw stones at them. This causes stress to the animals, which prefer not to be disturbed, he explained.
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Security
The zoo authorities deployed extra security personnel on that day and also employees from other sections were on hand to ensure it was a pleasant affair for both the visitors and the animals. The zoo is adding a few more attractions to add to the experience. “A butterfly enclosure is coming up, which is likely to host all the 78 recorded species of butterflies of the region,” he added. The enclosure is likely to be ready by next month-end. The heavy incessant rains that lashed the district in the aftermath of cyclone Nilam last month helped improve the water situation. All the water bodies in the zoo are brimming. “This is likely to help us go through the summer without problems,” he said.