Zoo officials gear up to open the much-awaited facility in 20 days, just ahead of the upcoming civic elections
The enclosure for Humboldt penguins in the city zoo may soon feature in the Shiv Sena's new branding campaign #DidYouKnow launched ahead of civic elections to woo voters. Zoo authorities are gearing up to throw open the penguin enclosure for public viewing in a little over a fortnight, as ruling Shiv Sena members in the BMC have been demanding constant updates from them on the progress on the eagerly anticipated attraction.
Shiv Sena is keen to ensure that the enclosure is thrown open to citizens before polling day, so that it can tout Yuva Sena president Aditya Thackeray's pet project as one of its achievements during election campaign.
"There is tremendous political pressure to finish the work as it has already been delayed. It was expected that the penguins will be displayed by January, even before the code of conduct would set in. However, due to several other factors playing a role, the public display of penguins has been delayed. We are quickly wrapping up the work of fitting glass walls and creating other required facilities within the enclosure," said a zoo official.
Zoo officials said that even after the glass walls are set, the penguins need to get accustomed to the new enclosure, which is bigger than the existing one. "Cleaning, fumigation, controlling the temperature of water and surroundings should be maintained in a bigger area. The penguins are not used to a lot of viewers at present. They should not be subjected to trauma just because political parties want it open. Penguins are sensitive and may suffer trauma with the kind of visitor flow expected. Also, crowd management will be a difficult task," said a source.
Elaborating on the crowd control aspect once the penguins will be in public view, a senior official said that special channeling will be arranged for the public. The plan is to allow school children first in a batch of 10, then 20 and then start increasing the number depending on how the penguins are reacting.
Children will be able to view the penguins only from a distance through glass as a part of crowd control management.
"No one can tease or feed the birds as the glass barriers will protect the penguins. Staff will be told to ensure strict arrangements so that children move through channels in discipline," said an official.
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