The National Zoo reopened on 1 November last year, following government guidelines, after seven months of closure because of the coronavirus outbreak. Since then it has been crowded almost every day, and even more so on weekly holidays.

On the afternoon of Friday, 15 January, visitors touring the zoo said they were pleased to find it clean and free of hawkers, and that it now felt safer than before.

The zoo's curator, Abdul Latif, said all renovation work had been done before November, and that staff were trying to keep the zoo free of hawkers and clean.

When it first reopened in early November, the zoo was open on a limited basis from 9am to 3pm. From December it has opened at 10am and closed at 5pm, and it is closed every Sunday.

Visitors are coming not only from Dhaka but from far afield. The biggest crowds gather in front of the monkey, deer, giraffe, bear, tiger and emu enclosures. Announcements over loudspeakers ask visitors not to bring food from outside, not to tease the animals, not to crowd in one place and to keep the zoo clean, but many ignore them.

Although there are no hawkers inside, many people buy water, nuts, pickles and crisps from them outside before entering. Food wrappers and plastic packets are dropped everywhere, and visitors were seen feeding animals in several enclosures, including those of the monkeys and ostriches.

Dip, a private-sector employee who came from Dhanmondi with his family, said there used to be more hawkers than visitors. Now there were none, the zoo was cleaner than before and it felt safe. On litter, he said it was wrong that many people were dropping crisp packets and water bottles.

The zoo's information officer, Dr Md Waliur Rahman, said Fridays were very crowded. Staff were trying to make people follow health rules; a mobile team was patrolling inside and several other teams were monitoring everything.

According to the zoo's citizen charter, about 3,000 animals live on its 186.63 acres. There are 18 species of herbivores, 11 species of carnivores, 25 species of small mammals and reptiles, 58 species of birds and 26 species of aquarium fish.

After the first coronavirus case was detected in the country on 8 March last year, the zoo was closed indefinitely from 26 March and reopened on 1 November. For those seven months the animals were free of disturbance from visitors, and the zoo authorities said 115 animals were born during that time.

The newborns include spotted deer, bears, giraffes, impala, common eland, hippopotamuses, peafowl and mynas. In all, 126 animals were born at the zoo last year.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.