The century-old Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, popularly known as Mysore zoo, has been listed as the country’s top zoo besides securing third place among the top 25 zoos in Asia.
It managed to get this acknowledgment in TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice awards for zoos and aquariums around the globe. The four other Indian zoos featured in the Asia list of TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice awards were Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad (11th position); Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, Darjeeling (12th position); Nandankanan Zoological Park, Bhubhaneshwar (14th position), and Arignar Anna Zoological Park, Chennai (20th position), according to a press release from TripAdvisor, a travel site.
Incidentally, five of the top 10 zoos in India were located in the Southern States, the release said. The awards were recently announced based on the reviews and opinions from TripAdvisor travellers. Expressing happiness over the Mysore zoo being recognised as the best, Executive Director B.P. Ravi said, “I recently heard about the zoo being featured in TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ choice. I must say that it deserves the credit as it is a tourist-friendly one. It has accorded top priority for animal and bird collections, cleanliness, visitor amenities and many more.”
He said the zoo has given priority for greenery, which keeps its surroundings cool. In fact, the temperature inside the zoo is less by about two degrees Celsius.
The zoo is a plastic-free zone too. “We ensure that the visitors do not carry plastic inside the zoo as the baggage is screened by the security at the entrance. Paper bags are provided to visitors, if necessary, instead of carrying plastic,” he said. Mr. Ravi said the zoo is also a tobacco-free zone. The offenders are fined if found smoking on the zoo premises. “There are instances of visitors fined for smoking. We have also fined the zoo staff for flouting the norm. All these measures have helped the zoo get overwhelming feedback.”
Incidentally, the zoo got its first master plan approved by the Central Zoo Authority of India (CZA) last year. The zoo has started implementing the plan by building enriched enclosures for the mega-carnivores and other animals keeping in view the available space and requirements.
The CZA recently gave its nod to the enclosure designs as per the master plan, which is for a period of 10 years. The master plan stresses on thematic display of animals.
