Mysuru Zoo ready to receive visitors, with guidelines

Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens (Mysuru Zoo), one of the popular and most visited tourist destinations of the city, is all set to open for the public on June 1 after the longest gap ever of 67 days.

The zoo is closed for visitors since March 25 in the wake of lockdown due to COVID-19. However, the zoo officials have brought out a 28-page ‘Standard Operating Guidelines on Reopening Post-COVID-19 Lockdown’, to be followed, whenever it is opened.

The guidelines read: “Although the number of visitors is expected to be much lower than normal times, the zoo is taking measures to ensure the safety of visitors, employees and animals. Though it may cause inconvenience to visitors and staff, there is no option, but to accept the new norm. There is a 3.5-km long visitor path, with an average width of 6 m. It is assumed that visitors use 2 metres on both sides of the pathway and the remaining 2 m can be provisioned for movement of battery-operated vehicles, movement of feed vehicles and zoo staff.”

“A visitor takes around 3 hours to cover the zoo, by walk and the safe distance between visitors required to ensure social distance is 2 m. Thus, the number of visitors, who can be safely accommodated at any given point of time is 3,100. Safely, 166 visitors per 10 minutes and 8,000 visitors per day can be allowed,” the guidelines say.

The visitors should not have cough, cold or fever symptoms. They should compulsorily wear face masks and undergo body temperature scanning. They can buy face masks from a dedicated counter at the entrance. e-ticket booking is preferred over manual ticket collection.

All visitors should pass over the medicated foot mat at the entrance. They should maintain social distance on the zoo premises and avoid touching barricades and other surfaces. They should move along the designated visitor path only. Avoid carrying luggage, which needs a locker room facility. Visitors should neither spit nor chew pan masala, gutka or khaini. Those above 65 years of age can avoid visiting. All visitors will be under CCTV camera monitoring and any violation will attract a penalty of up to Rs 1,000.

The zoo, a part of Zoo Authority of Karnataka (ZAK), with 80 acres of land, includes Karanji Lake and is spread over 157 acres. It is home to 1,400 plus animals and bird of 152 species, from over 25 nations. Ever since its inception in 1892, by Tenth Chamaraja Wadiyar, the longest ever break for the menagerie was in 2017, 30 days, from January 4 to February 2, due to bird flu scare.

Even though Nandankanan Zoological Park, a 437-hectare zoo and botanical garden in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, established in 1960, is the largest facility in India, it is not as popular as Mysuru Zoo.

Besides, Mysuru Zoo figures in the list of top five zoos of Asia, by Listly, followed by Singapore Zoo and Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Pattaya Thailand. It also figures in the list of top 10 zoo in Asia, according to Trip Advisor poll, followed by Singapore Zoo; Khao Kheow Open Zoo; Chimelong, Xiangjiang Safari Park, Guangzhou, China; Adventure World, Shirahama-cho, Japan; Million Years Stone Park and Pattaya Crocodile Farm, Thailand; and Asahiyama Zoo, Asahikawa, Japan.