Mumbai: Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan popularly known as Byculla zoo recorded 25,029 visitors on Tuesday. The zoo has been witnessing a huge crowd of visitors daily since last weekend. In the past four days around 71,302 citizens have visited the zoo. The civic body has earned Rs. 27.36 lakhs of revenue.
After cornavirus pandemic, the Byculla zoo was reopened in February. Since then the average weekend footfall has risen from 10,000 to 12,000.
While a huge crowd is noticed in Byculla zoo during every vacation. The footfall was less during monsoon but it has now increased again during the Diwali vacation.
Around 20,000 visitors were recorded in the zoo on Monday - the first day of Diwali. A queue could be seen outside the gate of the zoo since Tuesday morning.
Most kids were seen excited in the zoo enjoying the exhibit of the Bengal Tiger and Penguins. "Oscar and Orea, a baby penguin and the Bengal tiger cub Veera have been the biggest attraction from the last few months. Kids enjoy watching the penguin diving in the pond under the exhibit. Shiva a male bear, is also an attraction for many visitors", said sources at the zoo.
Dr Sanjay Tripathy, director of the zoo said, " The crowd was huge so we had to arrange for extra security which was called from nearby civic wards. The queue outside the penguin exhibit was seen for many hours. Usually, the zoo is closed on Wednesday but tomorrow the zoo will be kept open and we expect more visitors."
During the Ganeshotsav festival, the zoo recorded 77,167 visitors from August 31 to September 11. The zoo has recorded the highest number of visitors up to 30,000 in May. The zoo generates income from charging entry fees to visitors, which is set at Rs. 25 for children. 50 for adults and Rs.100 for a family of four. On Friday entry into the zoo is free for children below 12 years.
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