Why heritage panel nod counts in zoo makeover

With such a condition in place,the heritage panel’s insistence that the zoo is a botanical garden,gains significance.

A civic official,however,said that if the age-old trees inside the zoo are disturbed during the revamp,it would be difficult to revive them. “Regardless of whether the zoo is a botanical garden or not,it houses some of the country’s rarest trees. Last year,the CZA while approving the makeover categorically stated that their go-ahead was subjected to a no-objection obtained by the heritage committee. But considering the volume of the revamp that will take place over three years,it is impossible that trees and vegetation remain untouched,” the officer told Newsline,on condition of anonymity.

“Unfortunately,today the revamp of the zoo to ‘international standards’ seems to take precedence over the environmental safety of the city,” he added.

Meanwhile,animal welfare activists have long maintained that the Mumbai zoo has had a history of bad management of animals,and hence should remain a botanical garden and the few surviving animals transferred to better facilities. Anuradha Sawhney,co-opted member of the Animal Welfare Board of India and former PeTA chief,said: “Just by importing exotic animals,we can’t have a world-class zoo. Truth is that we still have a long way to go in taking care of animals. Over the past 10 years,I have seen how inmates have suffered in the zoo. Clearly,the BMC does not have the well being of animals at heart,they only want to bring in animals to attract visitors and make money.”

In 2004,PeTA’s report on the apathetic condition of animals in the Byculla Zoo had compelled the CZA to formulate guidelines for zoos in the country.

Environmentalists,however,have pointed to past records to show that the zoo precinct is essentially a garden. The official Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island,Volume III,published in 1910 – a copy of which is available at the Bombay Natural History Society – states: “In 1835,Government granted a large plot of land at Sewri to the

(Agri-Horticultural) society for the purpose of a botanical garden,the area of which was enlarged by subsequent grants in 1837 and 1840.”

The garden,comprising of about 33 acres,was later formally vested in the society by the then Government,under the title of Victoria Garden of the Agri-Horticultural Society. The Gazetteer also adds that in 1873 the government handed over the garden to the municipal corporation “to undertake the whole responsibility and expense of maintaining it as a public garden”. The garden was formally thrown open to the public on November 19,1862.

Zoo veterinarian Dr Sanjay Thripati,however,maintains that the zoo was never given botanical garden status. “It is true that the original plot in Sewri was opened as a botanical garden in 1835. However,years later when the Sewri garden shut,the trees were handed over to the BMC to be planted in the Byculla Zoo precinct but it was not given the status of a botanical garden.”

Thripati claims that the new zoo will have a much superior quality of animal care,with a state-of-the-art hospital and several veterinary departments in the offing. “The new zoo hospital will have a string of doctors like surgeons,nutritionists,general vets as wellas house high-profile scanning and x-ray and testing rooms to conduct regular check ups. The animal care facility will clearly be upped several notches,” he said.

The zoo representatives said that a point-wise reply will be made this week to the MHCC recent letter which stressed that the character and status of the Byculla Zoo as a botanical garden needs to be recognized.