Almost every other visitor at Alipore Zoo on December 31 and January 1 stopped by at the chimpanzee enclosure, only to see a green sheet of plastic covering what looked like an ongoing renovation.
Zoo officials said the chimp enclosure was not the only place in the park that was getting a makeover. By the end of this month, multiple such revamped enclosures will be opened for visitors.
Metro takes a closer look;
Chimp
The chimpanzee enclosure, one of the top draws of the park, is being overhauled.
The enclosure is surrounded by a glass wall and has a green patch and water-filled moat inside.
There is a gap of a few inches, covered with a wire mesh, between the glass wall and the concrete wall.
In the past, chimps have managed to sneak out of
the enclosure more than
once.
“Now, we are building a dome-like structure that will serve as a roof. It will be covered with a net in a way that the animals cannot escape the enclosure,” said Subhankar Sengupta, the director of the park.
The zoo has four chimps. Babu, the senior citizen, is around 35 years old. The remaining three are Buri and her brothers, Mastan and Chottu.
The three were rescued by the wildlife department from a location in Baguiati while they were being smuggled in.
This zoo became their permanent home following a court order.
Zebra
The zebra enclosure is also in the middle of a revamp.
Earlier, the enclosure comprised two outdoor units, divided by a series of night shelters and a wall. The partition will be demolished to make one large outdoor area, said Sengupta.
New night shelters are being build at another corner of the enclosure.
“The new enclosure will have an open area of over 2000sqft. The zebras will have plenty of space to run around,” said a zoo official.
The park has four zebras now.
Birds and reptiles
The Murshidabad House, named after its donor, the nawab of Murshidabad and the Swarnamoyee House, named after Maharani Swarnamoyee of Cossimbazar and built by her nephew and successor, Maharaja Manindra Chandra Nandy, are the two major aviaries in Alipore Zoo.
As part of the renovation, the Swarnamoyee House is being divided into two parts. One will be turned into a lizard house.
“It will be home to monitor lizards, geckos and iguanas,” Sengupta said. The other part of the enclosure will be a revamped aviary.
The entire Murshidabad will remain an aviary, only revamped with a better facade.
The zoo, which boasts a diverse collection of birds like toucans, hornbills, macaws and pheasants, already has four more aviaries with glass facades.
The enclosures for hippopotamus and white tigers have already got a facelift. The waterbody where the hippos spend some of their time, needed a full-fledged dredging. The paddock area was also made wider, said a zoo official.
