The city zoo has been recategorised from medium to large by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA). The zoo, which used to be a large-category zoo years ago, is now restored to that category.
An order from the CZA said its technical committee had recommended the re-categorisation under Rule 9 of the Recognition of Zoo Rules, 2009.
Categories
The order, dated November 21, said recognised zoos in the country were classified into large, medium, small, and mini on the basis of area of the zoo, number of visitors, total number of species and animals, total number of endangered species, and animals of endangered species. A large zoo had to be 75 hectares in area, and have 7.5 lakh visitors in a year, 75 species, 750 animals, 20 endangered species, and 100 animals of endangered species.
The city zoo, though falling short in the area criterion (it is situated on 14.56 ha), meets other criteria as per information provided by it and the annual animal inventory for 2016-17. During the year, it had 11.82 lakh visitors. It has 75 species, 947 animals, 37 endangered species, and 206 animals of endangered species.
