Byculla Zoo to get six penguins for Rs 2.5 crore

Jijamata Udyaan may get six Humboldt penguins within six months; proposal to be sent to the BMC standing committee next week

The next time you watch the 2006 Hollywood film, Happy Feet, and crave to watch the seabirds live in action, you won’t have to look any further than Byculla Zoo. Also known as the Jijamata Udyaan, the zoo is likely to get six Humboldt penguins within the next six months.

A proposal regarding the same will be sent to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) standing committee next week.

If everything goes according to plan, visitors will soon be able to see these aquatic creatures in the zoo. The cost of buying six Humboldt penguins is estimated to be Rs 2.5 crore.

Humboldt penguin

The BMC is already in the process of constructing enclosures for these birds. Their life support system is almost ready.

Along with this, the corporation is also spending Rs 19 crore on the maintenance of these flightless birds and enclosures for five years.

In 2011, the civic body had first announced its plans of buying Humboldt penguins for the Byculla zoo. It had then consulted Thailand-based HKS Designer and Consultant International Co.

“The BMC has appointed an agency to finalise the deal on the penguins. Since these seabirds breed in South America (Peru and Chile) and also in some European countries, the appointed agency will finalise the most affordable deal from one of the countries,” said a senior civic official on condition of anonymity.

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