By Aastha Karmacharya,Kathmandu, Aug. 13: The Central Zoo in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur Metropolitan City, which spreads over six hectares of land, provides shelter to 13,000 different animals and birds of 118 species. The National Trust for Nature Conservation operates it.
The Central Zoo does not cage the wildlife animals and birds solely for public display and recreation purposes. The management emphasizes educating the viewers about them. In each cage, a display board is attached featuring the animals’ scientific names, their life span, incubation period, distribution, diet and habitat.
According to Ganesh Koirala, Information and Programme Officer of the Central Zoo, 1,000,000 people visit the zoo annually.
“Every day, the zoo welcomes a minimum of 400 to 500 people, and on Saturdays and public holidays over 4,000 reach there for recreation with families and friends. However, these days with the onset of monsoon, the crowd of visitors has thinned,” Koirala said. He further said if it rained throughout the day, the number of visitors could drop to 200. The visitors enjoy spending their time in the central zoo but do animals enjoy having humans around them or do they feel irritated by human presence?
“Animals and birds, both nocturnal and diurnal, are kept here. The diurnal animals are habituated to humans and remain unbothered by the crowd. They usually enjoy their time when people are around them. They are seen wandering in their own space, sunbathing or relaxing in a corner. But the nocturnal animals do not come outside from their cave in the day time, they are seen lingering in the same spot, as if they were tired,” said Koirala.
Most importantly, the animals and birds are attentively placed according to their natural habitat, they are given shelter as per the requirement of their body temperature, he added. “This does not create any mental or physical disturbance to them.”
Tigers are a major attraction. Currently, there are six tigers (four males and two females) in the zoo, but only four of them are displayed at present.
Tigers are not fond of humans, they might feel irritated when humans produce sounds and it is risky to only cage them with minimal fixtures, that is the reason their cages are shielded with glass. This is how the management of the zoo upholds the safety of the visitors and the peace of the animals.
Likewise, the shelters of monkeys and chimpanzees are equipped with swings and ropes to let them jump around.
A female caretaker (name undisclosed) was seen feeding vegetables to herbivore animals one evening. She said herbivores and omnivores are fed thrice a day as per their appetite. The carnivores are fed only in the nighttime. Wild animals, aquariums and birds are fed timely with necessary nutrients and required medicines. Feeding junk foods from outside could lead to sickness, that is why there is a small billboard on each cage conveying a message to the visitors that they don’t feed them.
“Approximately Rs. 35 million is spent in a year for feeding the animals and birds. We don’t receive any budget from the government. The main source of income is the revenue collected from the entry ticket sales. Daily income cannot be accurately estimated because some days the crowds are thick and other days they are thin but annually Rs. 140-150 million income is collected and from the budget we manage everything from providing salary to staff, food to the animals, required materials and to maintain cleanliness of the zoo” said Koirala.
Each entry ticket for adults costs Rs. 200 while students are charged Rs. 135, children Rs. 75, senior citizens Rs. 100 and visitors from SAARC countries Rs. 500 per person.
Behavioural changes in animals and birds are identified by their caretakers, he said. When animals fall ill, they reflect it through their body movement, they lose their appetite and sit in unusual corners.
The ill animals and birds are immediately taken to a veterinarian and are given proper treatment.
Apart from conserving the wildlife (including endangered animals) and birds, the central zoo also fosters the learning culture by educating the visitors about the animals, aquariums??? and birds.
The zoo has also separated a playing space for children offering a variety of games. The conservation area is well preserved with greenery and dustbins placed in different spaces emphasising on cleanliness.
(Karmacharya is an intern at TRN.)