Visitor count at Byculla zoo zooms to pre-Covid levels

Visitors at the tiger enclosure at Byculla zoo, which reopened on November 1

As life picks up pace on all fronts across the city, the number of visitors at Byculla zoo has touched the pre-Covid levels, with daily footfall crossing 5,000. Gates of the zoo are being shut for an hour on weekends to control the crowd, said officials. The Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo, popularly known as the Byculla zoo, reopened this month after more than one and a half years. Between November 1 and 22, nearly 1.25 lakh people visited the place, the only facility in India to have penguins, bringing in a revenue of Rs 51 lakh.

While about 4,000 people visit the zoo on weekdays, there is a huge surge on weekends. "On Saturdays, there are 10 to 12 thousand visitors and on Sundays, the number goes above 14,000. We had to shut the gates for an hour to manage the crowd," said Dr Sanjay Tripathi, director of the zoo. Dr Tripathi said the Humboldt penguin and tiger enclosures see the highest number of visitors. "People like to watch tigers in water. Even the bird display is a major point of attraction. The zoo authority increased the security near these enclosures to manage the crowds," said the official.

Zoo authorities had brought two Royal Bengal tigers - Shakti and Karishma - in February 2020 but they could not be displayed due to the COVID-induced lockdown. The zoo plans to get four lions. While one pair of Asiatic lions will come from Sakkarbaug Zoological Park in Junagadh, Gujarat, the other pair will be brought from Kamla Nehru Prani Sangrahalaya in Indore. In exchange, the Byculla zoo will hand over as many zebras, procured from Ramat Gan Safari Park in Israel, to the Junagadh and Indore zoos. Public can visit the facility between 9.30 am and 6 pm, though issuing of tickets for entry will be stopped by 4 pm, unlike 5.15 pm during pre-COVID times.

It's a boy!

After almost three months of its birth, the authorities have identified the sex of a penguin chick as "male". However, it is yet to be named. The other male chick born this year has been named Oreo. Eight penguins - three males and five females - were brought from the Coex Aquarium in Seoul, South Korea in 2016. One of them died later. On August 15, 2018, a chick was born, but could not survive beyond a week.

1.25L
No. of visitors between Nov 1 and Nov 22