PUNE: The Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park at Katraj is witnessing a rush with the ongoing summer vacations. Around 13,880 people visited the zoo last weekend.
Vinod Deshpande, who had come all the way from Beed to visit the zoo, said, “The tiger cubs and reptiles in the Snake Park are the main attractions here. We had heard a lot about the park, so we decided to visit it. It is a beautiful place located in the middle of nature. It is hard to find so much greenery in big cities like Pune.”
Hemant Jogdeo, a resident of Shivdarshan Chowk, Parvati, said, “Since summer vacations are going on, I brought my grandson to visit the zoo. The snake park, tigers and leopards were what we were looking forward to seeing. Though smaller than the zoo, I thought the snake park would be more attractive and fun.”
Rajkumar Jadhav, Director of the zoo, said, “There has been an increase in the number of footfalls since this weekend. We anticipate footfalls of around 15,000 on weekends. This weekend, we received around 13,880 visitors. This number will gradually increase. By the end of May, we are expecting footfalls of 16,000 to 18,000 on weekends and public holidays. This year, the new attractions for the visitors are the tiger cubs. The cubs are six months old now and they attract huge crowds.”
He further added, “New animals such as Jungle Cats, Leopard Cats and Giant Squirrels are going to be added to the zoo. These animals are already under our shelter but we do not have a display facility for them. The construction of these display facilities is underway. The animals will be available for public viewing within the next six months. We are proud to have these new animals, especially the Giant Squirrel, which is the state animal of Maharashtra. We are also actively working towards the conservation of endangered species, one of which is the Malabar Giant Squirrel. This is one of the most important objectives of today’s modern zoos. We need to actively work towards co-ordinated conservation and protection of these species so that their population can be augmented.”
The zoo also has an animal orphanage for the birds and mammals, which are rescued from various places.
”The purpose of this rescue centre is to provide treatment and shelter to the animals that are injured or orphaned. These animals are treated and then released back into their natural habitats,” Jadhav said.
