With visitors dwindling, the Bannerghatta Biological Park says it has become difficult to feed animals and pay staff salaries.
The park needs about Rs 2 crore a month — Rs 1 crore to feed the animals and a similar amount to pay its staff. In recent months, its revenues have fallen to just Rs 1 crore.
“We now earn about Rs 12 crore a year, or half of what we used to earn before the pandemic. Our current earnings are not enough to sustain the park,” says R Gokul, the park’s executive director.
About 350 people work at the sprawling park, spread over 260.5 sq km and housing 2,388 animals. The entry fee is Rs 80 for adults and Rs 40 for children.
“We also have to maintain a butterfly park and an animal rescue centre. The second wave has cast a serious gloom over the zoo,” he told DH.
The park, 23 km from Vidhana Soudha, needs grants from the government and all the help it can get from the public, he says.
The Zoo Authority of Karnataka has already demanded assistance from the state government.
“According to our estimate, we need at least Rs 30 crore to maintain the nine zoos in the state. This is the minimum to cover maintenance. Our chairman has spoken to the chief minister and we hope the money will be released soon,” said a representative of the authority.
Over the past year, the Bannerghatta park has been surviving mostly on reserve funds. “There is no need to panic. We have enough reserves to comfortably take care of all our nine zoos till December. After that, if things don’t get better, we will have to look for other resources,” says Vijaykumar Gogi, chief wildlife warden.
Bannerghatta Park officials don’t share his optimism. “We used up a huge chunk of our savings last year and from the looks of it, the remaining funds will also get used up within the next two or three months,” says Gokul.
As a last resort, Bannerghatta park is asking the public to chip in and help feed the animals. “We are now introducing the daily feeding option,” says Amala Anil, park official. The daily cost for feeding an animal ranges from Rs 400 to Rs 3,000. To donate, visit bannerghattabiologicalpark.org.
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