A total of eight humboldt penguins three males and five females were brought from Seoul to the Byculla zoo on July 26 2016 amidst huge protest by several animal rights activists.
For officials of Veermata Jijabai Bhosale (VJB) Zoo it has been a long journey- from being told that they lacked the expertise and would end up killing all the penguins brought in July 2016 to witness the birth of first penguin chick on Wednesday, August 15.
A total of eight humboldt penguins, three males and five females were brought from Seoul to the Byculla zoo on July 26 2016 amidst huge protest by several animal rights activists. All hell broke loose when one of them-Dory died on October 23, 2016 due to bacterial infection, which was projected as Zoo’s failure to take care of the penguins.
A senior zoo official shared that there was lot of negativity initially and a court case was filed. On days there would be fake messages doing rounds that more penguins have died to put us all under tremendous stress till the penguins were in quarantine.
“Amidst all the criticism and negativity we only focussed on the well being of our penguins and ensured that the seven penguins remain healthy and active so we pooled all our energies towards it. They were shifted to their new enclosure in March 2017 and by April we knew they had adapted very well as they were gaining weight and were extremely active,’ said the official adding that a lot of people criticising penguins being kept at the zoo were not even aware about Humboldt species nor the fact that these are captive penguins and were brought from an aquarium at Seoul.
Another official said that while many activists criticised the zoo for bringing the penguins to Mumbai, it also provided the first opportunity for lakhs not only from Mumbai but across India to watch penguins for the very first time that too kept in a good infrastructure.
“The fact that the Zoo has the first penguin chick born just within 17 months of the penguins being shifted to their new enclosure itself goes to show how well they have adapted and also speaks volume for their good health and care being taken by the dedicated expert Vet team including Dr Madhumita Kale, Dr Neha Shah, Dr Govind Mangnale and caretakers,” said Dr Sanjay Tripathi, Director, VJB Zoo adding that all they would like to say is that its the happiest moment for zoo.
Tripathi added that several experts have rated the penguin facility in Mumbai as one of the best in the world and the constant support from the BMC top brass has helped them deal with all issues.
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 "The team of three Vets in charge of the penguin facility Dr Govind Mangnale, Dr Madhumita Kale and Dr Neha Shah")
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