We have had senior citizens coming in, viewing the penguin exhibit and saying that they are grateful. Had it not been for the zoo, they say, they would not have ever been able to see penguins,” says a senior official from Byculla’s Virmata Jijabai Udyan. The zoo, which in 2016, acquired seven Humboldt penguins from South Korea, to much controversy, is now in talks with the Central Zoo Authority to acquire a pair of anacondas. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is also slated to spend Rs 82 lakh to buy two pairs of zebras, which will be given to Sakkarbaug Zoo at Junagadh in Gujarat and Kamala Nehru Zoo at Indore in Madhya Pradesh, in exchange of two pairs of Asiatic lions and one pair each of Indian bears and hyenas.

But a lawyer and activist is asking, why do we need zoos at all? Ambika Hiranandani filed a petition late last year against having zoos in India, and received 40,000 signatures in support.