Kolkata: Visitors at Alipore Zoo have reasons to rejoice in the New Year. The zoo authorities are all set to introduce an added attraction in the form of a nocturnal house in the zoo from January 2019.
"We have no separate enclosure for the nocturnal animals, as a result of which the varied collection of these animals have rarely been witnessed by visitors. We are offering this as a gift to the people of the state in the New Year," state Forest minister Binay Krishna Barman said, on the sidelines of the Zoo Festival that was kicked off at Alipore Zoo on Wednesday.
Work is now going on in full swing for developing the Gubbay House, home to monkeys in the western flank of the zoo, for reshaping it into the nocturnal house. The exterior of Gubbay House, named after 19th-century Jewish merchant Elia Shalom Gubbay who had funded it, will not change much but the interior will be completely remodelled. Barman took stock of the progress of work on the new enclosure.
"We will have owls, rodents, porcupines, slow loris, hyena and several other kinds of nocturnal animals. The architecture and lighting of the enclosure will be crafted in such a manner to create a night-like atmosphere during the day. There will be a special kind of lighting to ensure that the animals are perfectly at ease and at the same time, with people also being able to behold them," Barman added.
According to a senior zoo official, some of the monkeys, mostly langurs, Assamese monkeys and Rhesus monkeys that were inside the Gubbay House have already been moved to places like Jhargram and Purulia, while some have been moved to another shelter.
Several zoos in the country, like Nandankanan in Odisha and the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad, have nocturnal houses.
State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim and Burman inaugurated the five day Zoo Festival on Wednesday. There will be workshops on painting, clay modelling, quiz, extempore and craft and most importantly, awareness campaign among the participants on the importance of conservation of wildlife. 40 schools are taking part in the festival that will end on November 18.