By Archana Rao
New Delhi, April 24 (IANS) Home to over 1,300 animals and birds, the National Zoological Park in Delhi is gearing up to bring significant changes, including through plantation of more exotic trees and construction of a butterfly park.
Officials at the park, which is famously known as Delhi Zoo, told IANS that a master plan is being charted out to make the area look more like a forest.
"A master plan is being discussed by the (Delhi zoo) board to revamp the place. We have a provision to keep over 2,000 animals as well as accommodate 200 species. At present we have 106 species of animals. We also have the provision to build an aquarium," education curator Riyaz Ahmed Khan told IANS.
Meanwhile, certain cages are planned to be shifted by the year end to make space for a butterfly park.
"We have been planning to make a butterfly park for quite some time. This can prove to be one of the main attraction factors for children. But the allocation of space for such a park will be reviewed in some time," he said.
Since the past few years, basic changes have been brought in the park such as instillation of water coolers for visitors and reconstruction of paths and roads.
"We are also planting exotic plants and fruit plants and preparing to give more of a jungle-like feel to the zoo," Khan said.
But some of the caretakers complained that before implementation of the master plan, basic requirements need to be addressed at the zoo.
"Here at the zoo we don't have any giraffes. We had three of them a couple of years ago but they all died. Since then no efforts have been made to bring any more giraffes. We also don't have any zebras," one of the caretakers told IANS.
The caretaker said that the zoo has only one female rhinoceros and one female chimpanzee. Both the enclosures do not have any male animals.
"There are only 50 permanent staff members here. Rest are all contract workers. The zoo stopped hiring permanent staff a long time ago. It becomes difficult for us to monitor the park since each cage/enclosure requires minimum two caretakers," another zoo staff member said.
(Archana Rao can be contacted at archana.r@ians.in)
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