Mumbai: On Gudi Padwa, penguins draw 20,000 visitors to Byculla Zoo

The last 10 days must have been a tiring experience for the Humboldt penguins at Byculla Zoo, with more than 2.5 lakh people visiting the place to catch a glimpse of them

The zoo administration has beefed up security to manage crowds. Pic/Suresh Karkera

The last 10 days must have been a tiring experience for the Humboldt penguins at Byculla Zoo, with more than 2.5 lakh people visiting the place to catch a glimpse of them. On Tuesday alone, over 20,000 people thronged the zoo on Gudi Padwa. However, learning from past experience, this time the zoo administration had made better security arrangements for managing the crowd.

Zoo director Sanjay Tripathi said, "We have deployed 50 BMC guards inside the zoo and around 20 cops outside to manage the crowd." He further said, "Earlier, on an average we used to get 4,000 to 5,000 visitors on weekdays and 9,000 to 10,000 on weekends. Now the zoo gets 15,000 visitors daily on weekdays and over 20,000 visitors on weekends. The penguins have helped increase revenue generation."

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