Zoo inmates to bid goodbye soon

Coimbatore: Nearly 200 animals in the VOC park zoo in the city will be shifted to other zoos across the state as the city corporation is not in a position to maintain the facility, which was closed for visitors in January 2022.
The civic body is spending 3 lakh every month to meet the food expenses of the birds and animals in the zoo.
The forest department, recently, took stock of the zoo and estimated that there are 334 birds, 46 reptiles and 152 mammals in the facility.
“The forest department will decide where the animals will be shifted. Some animals will be shifted to the Vandalur zoo, while crocodiles are likely to be housed in the Amaravathi dam crocodile park and deer in the Guindy National Park,” said corporation commissioner M Prathap.
“Most of the birds in the zoo will be released from the cages. While a few rare species and birds that could not survive on their own due to years of captivity would be taken care by the forest department.”
Prathap said the corporation will sent a proposal to create a bird park in the space once animals are shifted. “Only pet and domesticated birds will be kept there.”
The VOC park zoo, which was established over 4.13 acres in the middle of the city in 1965, was the only zoo to be run by a local body in south India.
The zoo was closed for visitors in January 2022 following an instruction from the central zoo authority, a corporation official said. “The central zoo authority had asked us to make some changes, including the expansion of the facility, and pointed out that the corporation officials lacked expertise to maintain it. As the zoo is located in the heart of the city, there was no scope for expansion. Our efforts to collaborate with the forest department also failed.”