Alipore: The elephant enclosure at Alipore Zoo has undergone a makeover with more open space, greenery and water bodies.

The new enclosure is spread across 3.7 acres, three times larger than the old one.

The zoo has two elephants - Titir, 8, and Rani, 10.

The wall of the previous enclosure, opposite Taj Bengal in the eastern park of the zoo, has been demolished to include more open spaces in the elephant habitat.

The shelters for hyenas, jackals and leopards were located beside the elephant enclosure.

The animals have been shifted to their new shelters - leopards, for instance, have moved to a new leafy enclosure with glass walls further east - and the space has been merged with the home for elephants.

The new enclosure has two night shelters and as many water bodies. The earlier one had one each.

The older tank, on the eastern side of the enclosure, is around 3ft-deep. The new one, on the western side, is 6ft-deep.

The older shelter - where Titir and Rani are still spending their nights - has been given a fresh coat of paint. The new shelter has not yet been painted.

The entire enclosure, unlike the previous one, has a grass carpet. The base of the trees inside the enclosure - aswattha, neem, deodhar and krishnachura - have been surrounded by brick walls so that the elephants do not uproot them.

Smaller varieties, such as corn and banana, have also been planted in the enclosure.

Titir and Rani seem to be in love with their new home. "Once they are let out in the open, they just don't want to come back into the shelter. They love running around," zoo director Asis Kumar Samanta said.

The old enclosure was inaugurated in 1999 by then chief minister Jyoti Basu. Before that, elephants used to remain chained in an enclosure one-tenth the size of the current one.

The makeover follows an order by the Central Zoo Authority, Samanta said

The 2009 central zoo guidelines had banned elephants in zoos but an exception was made for the Alipore facility. The authorities of the city zoo were told that they could keep at the most two elephants and would have to increase the size of the enclosure.

The overhaul started three years ago, officials said. "The process was time-consuming because before expanding the enclosure, animals living in neighbouring shelters had to be shifted to other parts of the zoo," an official said.