Christmas holiday sees record footfall at Hyderabad zoo

The Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad witnessed a surge in visitors on Christmas Day, with 23,440 people thronging the zoo. The addition of new animals such as zebras, meerkats, serval cats, barasingha, and white swans has boosted public interest.

Hyderabad: Addition of new animals to its collection is reaping good results for the Nehru Zoological Park in the city, with 23,440 people visiting the zoo on Thursday.

With Thursday being a holiday on account of Christmas, a large number of visitors thronged the zoo to see their favourite animals.

The Hyderabad zoo recently added Zebras, Meerkat, Serval Cat, Barasingha, White Swans and among other animals, which were procured as part of the animal exchange programmes with other zoos in the country.

As expected from the earlier years’ visitation, the zoo management anticipated more visitors and deputed officers on duty at different locations for smooth and peaceful functioning.

In addition, adequate drinking water units were arranged, extra booking counters were opened and volunteers were deployed to help visitors in booking tickets.

To keep the premises clean, additional staff were deputed to remove the disposable waste. Animal keepers’ talk shows and snake awareness show was conducted to create awareness on wildlife among the visitors.

Nehru Zoological Park curator J Vasantha thanked visitors for choosing Hyderabad zoo as their holiday destination. The zoo is home to 199 species of wild animals from different countries.