Mumbai: Byculla Zoo could lose licence by year-end

A deer suffering a skin infection wades through a filthy pool of water at the zoo on Saturday afternoon CZA guidelines state that unwell animals be kept in separate enclosures PicsSuresh KarkeraThe cityrsquos only zoo at Byculla could lose its licence by December this year if it does not get its act together Appalled by the deplorable condition of some of the animals and their enclosures the Central Zoo Authority CZA has slapped a notice on the authorities Zoo authorities have until December this year to respond to the notice sent two weeks ago and rectify thingsA bird enclosure with a rusting cage looks like it hasnt been cleaned in a whileAmong the CZA norms flouted by the Byculla zoo are that the animals should have proper enclosures with enough space to roam in clean water to drink or swim in and should not be displayed if wounded or sick Currently home to 400 animals the zoo as the pictures indicate has rusting enclosures and filthy water which the animals drink and swim in A senior official from the CZA in Delhi told midday ldquoWe found the enclosures badly maintained and the upkeep of animals was not as per normsrdquoAlso Read They are in Aamchi Mumbai Controversial Humboldt Penguins reach Byculla zooFilthy water in a moat in one of the enclosuresDirector of Byculla zoo Dr Sanjay Tripathi has however made light of the notice saying there was nothing to worry about ldquoThis is usual practice by the CZA If some of the conditions are not complied with they give us time to rectify them We will submit our reply to the CZArsquos notice soonrdquoAn information board with faded writingWork on the ambitious Rs 150crore revamp plan that will see the 53acre zoo laid out in 1873 get a complete makeover was started in March this year But CZArsquos issues with the zoo are separate from this The zoorsquos licence to operate currently depends on these issues being sorted outWhat the notice saysThe notice states that as most of the enclosures are old and do not conform to CZA standards they should be modified or rebuilt CZA has directed that the enclosures match the behaviour requirement of the animals inside themFor instance larger animals must have enough space to move around comfortably The CZA has also suggested merging the vacant enclosuresPrior warningIn 2011 and 2012 the CZA had severely criticised Byculla zoo authorities after many animals started dying at the zoo either from disease or old age Zoo authorities were let off with a warning at the time and told to improve the conditions at the zoo but this year things seem to have worsened to a point where the CZA was forced to send a noticeCZA visit last yearThe CZA team had visited the zoo in December 2015 after the zoorsquos recognition had expired The recognition is a licence given for a period of between one to three years to publicly display animals As per the Recognition of Zoo Rules 2009 CZA recognition is given only if facilities inside enclosures are found to be satisfactory The zoo has got an extension on the licence for a year which expires this December Currently the zoo that sees 9 lakh visitors a year has 20 enclosures housing animals like barking deer blue bull spotted deer elephants pythons and birds However the enclosures for tigers lions hyenas and rhinoceros are empty as they have died either because of ailments or old age The zoo is yet to replace these Civic officials said that it would have been be part of the revamped premisesRead Story Mumbai Byculla Zoo to get Rs 35crore theatreThe budget for the zoo comes from the civic bodyrsquos gardens department While the post of zoo director was created in April 2010 administrative and financial powers are vested only with the deputy municipal commissioner and additional municipal commissionerActivists sayAnimal welfare activists have criticised the zoorsquos revamp plan saying authorities must first take care of the animals currently at the zoo instead of jumping to revamp itSunish Subramanian from NGO PAWSMumbai said ldquoWe have been raising the issue regarding the poor condition of animal enclosures for a long time but not much has changed The BMC wants to make this zoo on a par with international standards but the authorities should take care of the animals currently there before speaking about a revamprdquoAnother activist said ldquoIf they do not have a system in place to take care of the existing animals in the zoo how are they going to take care of exotic species The need of the hour is to have a monitoring committee in place which should have members from among citizens and CZA animal welfare activists and representatives from NGOsrdquo