The 100-crore rupee project will come up on the 10 acres freshly acquired from Mafatlal Mills and Podar Mills Ltd
The city zoo – or the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale (VJB) Udyan and Zoo – will be home to new, rare inmates soon. Think black jaguars, white lions, and the hard-to-pronounce okapi and oryx. After the Humboldt penguins, the VJB will be the first zoo in the country to have some of these exotic species – that is if they don't run into trouble with animal rights activists.
The BMC approved the project in October, along with the master layout plan and animal collection plan, submitted by HKS Designer and Consultant International Company. The project has now been sent to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) for approval. The 100-crore rupee project will come up on the 10 acres freshly acquired from Mafatlal Mills and Podar Mills Ltd.
Apart from the four animals mentioned above, cheetahs, wallabies, hippopotami, giraffes, zebras, mandrill monkeys, chimpanzees, ring-tailed lemurs, cassowaries (native to New Guinea and Australia), emus, ostriches, lesser flamingos and lorikeets are among the new inhabitants on the cards. "There will also be an aviary for terrestrial birds which visitors can walk through," said a BMC official.
The rare and endangered white lion, with bleached fur and light blue eyes, is expected to become the star attraction. Dr Sanjay Tripathi, director of VJB Udyan and Zoo, said implementation, following CZA's approval, could take two years.
"Since the 10-acre plot is not part of the heritage precinct and hardly has any flora, there will be no delay in waiting clearances for construction of enclosures. The animals will be procured from international zoos," says Tripathi. He added that all the exotic animals included in the plan were those suited to Mumbai's climatic conditions, and many of them, such as the cheetah and zebra already lead healthy lives in other Indian zoos.
BMC officials say the exotic section will bring the Mumbai zoo on par with some of the best zoos in the world. "We aim to make Byculla zoo a place of learning and awareness," says a BMC official.
MEET THE UNUSUALS
Okapi: Also called the forest giraffe or zebra giraffe, it has stripes like the zebra and is related to the giraffe
Oryx: Both sexes of this antelope have with long, straight slender horns, which also earn it the nickname Spear Antelope
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