Rangpur Zoo in sorry state

Rangpur Zoo, the main entertainment venue in North Bengal, is losing its glory owing to a shortage of animal and bird species, the required number of employees and the absence of a congenial environment.

Though the zoo has been opened after a long shutdown over the Covid-19 situation, there was no enthusiasm among the city dwellers to visit the venue.

A few visitors were found in the venue during the visit by this correspondent.

According to the staffers, the state-run zoo is running wretchedly with a scanty number of animals and birds.

There are some 259 animals and birds of 32 species of which, many are old and some of them have no pairs. Of the lone animals are imu, camel bird, Casoria, bear, hanuman and hedgehog.

The authority has sent a requisition to the ministry concerned to increase the number of animals and improve internal facilities to draw the visitors’ attraction, but it has got no response.

Many of the visitors said the dearth of zebra, giraffe, elephant, kangaroo, leopard, goyala and rhinoceros has made the zoo less attractive to them.

Many animals died of old age complications and they have not been replaced with younger ones.

The lone tigress named Sawan which was brought to the zoo in 2010 died of old age complications on February 4, making the tiger cage lying vacant.

Jamil Hossain, a college student and resident of Tajhat area of the city who came to visit the zoo, said there are scanty animals and birds of different species in the zoo and that is why the city dwellers feel reluctant to visit the zoo.

Ruksana Parveen, a housewife and resident of Jummapara of the city, said, “We often used to visit the zoo along with our kids earlier for recreation. It was a very popular entertainment spot for the city dwellers even a few years back. But the scenario has been grim due to the inadequate number of animals and birds and the absence of a hygienic environment.”

She said the main attraction for the kids is tigers, but there is no tiger in the zoo.

“Waste papers, plastic packets, and containers are seen here and there. A foul smell emanates from the cages. All these have made the environment unhealthy and unhygienic that led to the fall in the number of visitors,” she added.

Shajahan Miah, a resident of the city, said the animals are not fed properly and that is why they are getting weak and malnourished.

A ticket man at the zoo gate, Hazrat Ali, said, “We witnessed a huge number of visitors in the zoon in the past years. Around 5,000 visitors used to visit the zoo every day. People even from adjacent districts came here.”

“It was tough to manage the rush of visitors during the holidays. But the number has been declining sharply due to the absence of animals and other facilities at present,” he added.

Deputy Curator, Dr Akbor Ali, said there was an organogram of some 16 employees who were supposed to work in the zoo, but the number is now almost half.

“It is really difficult to manage the internal environment and keep the venue neat and clean with the insufficient number of employees. We also appointed temporary staff members to clean the animal cages regularly,” he said.

Asked about the shortage of animals and birds and their food, he said, “We have sent a requisition to the ministry concerned, asking them to meet the shortage of the animals in the zoo and appoint the required number of employees.”

Rangpur Zoo was established in 1989 on some 22 acres of land in Honumantola area of the city. It is the largest zoo in North Bengal and the second largest in Bangladesh in terms of size.