CM’s plan to relocate city zoo triggers debate
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Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan’s “dream project” to shift the Thiruvananthapuram zoo outside the city limits to Neyyar or some forest area and transform the freed-up space into a city square has activists and city residents concerned.
Talking about facilities to attract visitors and ensure that they stayed longer in the State, Mr. Satheesan asked whether the zoo should continue to exist in the heart of the city. “It is cruelty to animals. They have their own habitat. We should shift them to Neyyar or some forest area, to an environment suited to their habitat.”
The freed-up space should be developed into a beautiful square similar to Madison Square in New York or that in Prague. It should have all facilities for visitors, Mr. Satheesan said.
However, activists have expressed concern over the proposal. Writer and activist Sreedevi S. Kartha, in a social media post, termed the idea strange.
Questioning the need for zoos at a time when one had more scientific information about wild animals, their natural behaviour, and the environment, Ms. Kartha pointed out that conservation did not mean collecting more wild animals but protecting the forests and ecosystems of wild animals. Even through the IUCN acknowledged the contribution of zoos in conservation, research, and reintroduction, the idea was not for animals to continue under conditions restricted by humans but to create conditions for them to survive in the forests.
She added that setting up a captive wildlife facility on forest fringes for providing a more natural setting was a very simplified way to look at the issue. Instead, it should be approached from the perspective of zoonotic diseases tbat could spread from the zoo to the wild or vice versa.
Veena Maruthoor, environmentalist, in a social media post pointed out that zoos were an outdated concept. Zoos were not needed anywhere; animals should be allowed to live in peace, she said.
Former zoo veterinarian Jacob Alexander said if protecting the interests of the animals was the intention, the newly built Puthur zoo should be maintained properly and the animals shifted there. Building yet another facility to cage the zoo animals was not practical. The lion safari park at Neyyar suffered owing to lack of space. There were no big cats there and it was closed. Instead of relocating the zoo, a safari could be started so that animals could roam in the open.
Lessons should also be learnt from the problems in functioning of the elephant rehab centre at Kottoor that resembled a concrete jungle.
The Thiruvananthapuram zoo, spread over 30 acres of land in the heart of the city, was set up as an adjunct to the Napier Museum in 1859 by the king of erstwhile Travancore to attract more visitors. However, it still did not make profits. There was no point in increasing the liability by creating another such facility, Dr. Alexander said.
City residents pointed out on social media that the zoo and museum premises were a green lung of the city to which morning walkers and many elderly flocked to. The zoo itself was home to hundreds of birds, including migratory birds, butterflies, and rare trees. All these would suffer if the facility was moved away.
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