Jamshedpur: Tata Steel Zoological Park has begun installing additional surveillance cameras to keep an eye on both its wild inmates and visitors.

Zoo director Bipul Chakravarty said 55 closed-circuit television cameras would be installed in phases. "Better surveillance has become necessary given the increased footfall over the years," he said, adding that the zoo security team and senior officials would monitor the visuals 24/7 from the administrative building.

Sources said the first set of cameras were installed on Friday outside and inside the main gates. The next phase will cover the Knowledge Centre, boating corner and some animal enclosures.

The country's only private animal kingdom is located inside Jubilee Park and sprawls over 37 hectares. There are 400 inmates, including pure-bred African lions, Royal Bengal tigers, leopards, sloth bears, sambars and langurs. Sources said CCTV cameras exist at the lion and tiger enclosures, on-campus animal hospital and the store room since 2017.

The daily footfall of around 1,000 visitors from Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and Bengal, and weekend numbers of over 3,000 have prompted the need to have more surveillance devices.

A zoo official said they were keen to make the place safer for animals and visitors. "The cameras in animal enclosures will help us respond promptly to medical emergencies," he said.

In March this year, Tata zoo had lost a three-year-old Royal Bengal tiger Ahana and an unnamed seven-month-old female cub to a malaria-like disease.