Delhi zoo to reopen next month with online sale of tickets

NEW DELHI: Delhi zoo will reopen from next month, with online booking of tickets commencing from the end of July, informed the administration on Monday. The National Zoological Park was closed on March 18 last year, and remained so for over a year due to the pandemic and bird flu. It was opened briefly in April this year but then closed again. Now it is set to be reopened for visitors from August 1, more than three months after it had to be shut due to the rise in number of cases during the second wave. 

The zoo was reopened on April 1 this year, only to be closed again on April 15. In April, the zoo allowed only 2,000 visitors daily — in two slots of 1,000 visitors each. Visitors can buy tickets either through the zoo’s website or at the entry gates using QR codes.

“We are planning to open the National Zoological Park (Delhi zoo) from August 1. It will be opened in two shifts as earlier. Preparations are on in order to keep things in order. Online booking will open from 31st of this month, a day ahead of the opening,” said Delhi zoo director Ramesh Kumar Pandey.

The zoo will operate in two shifts. The first shift will be from 8 am to noon and the second will be from 1 pm to 5 pm. Pandey said the zoo recorded only 124 animal deaths, the lowest in the last three years, while it remained closed for public in 2020-21.

There are 94 species and 1,162 animals in the zoo at present, he said. “We are moving towards having 100 species soon,” he said The zoo administration has also introduced cycles for staff and asked them not to use bikes or cars inside the premises.