Tirupati, April 13: Despite adoption of all necessary steps for developing the zoo in all the sectors, it seems the zoo authorities are not serious about the water problems during the summer.
Even before the first quarter of the summer, that is oddly one month of summer is over, a majority of the borewells in the zoo are unable to lift the ground water whose levels have gone down. On the other hand, water supply from Kalyani Dam reservoir to the SV Zoo Park has came to a halt. For catering to the needs of pilgrims to Tirumala Hills, water is pumped directly to Tirumala from the dam, throwing the zoo into a water crisis.
Now, the zoo authorities are bringing water through tankers. At the minimim level they are purchasing 10 tankers of water per day for drinking water needs of the animals. To ensure safe drinking water, they have set up a water purification plant in the zoo premises is well catering the drinking needs of visitors. Zoo officials maintain that they are making every effort for protecting the animals from the scorching summer.
“We used to get one lakh litres of water from Kalyani dam regularly. But, after the waters were diverted to Tirumala, we are lifting 70,000 litres of water through the borewells on the zoo premises and are getting the remaining 30,000 litres by tankers,’’ said a zoo official.
He said they have made alternative arrangements for preventing sun stroke to the animals. “We have placed aircoolers in the white tigers enclosure. All the animals were given free hours between 11 am and 3 pm, that is they can either stay in the exhibiting enclosure or in their respective dens. We are also watering the enclosures from time to time for reducing the temperature levels,’’ he explained.
On the other hand, some zoo staff say that water shortage is very much there in the zoo even though official may claim otherwise.
–Agencies