Barrier Designs for Zoos - ZooLex Zoo Design Organization
Barrier Designs for Zoos - ZooLex Zoo Design Organization
Barrier Designs for Zoos - ZooLex Zoo Design Organization
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3<br />
CENTRAL ZOO AUTHORITY<br />
in Barrakpore in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1801 as a part of Natural History Project and continued<br />
till 1978, when remaining animals were transferred to Alipore zoo. This was followed by a private zoo<br />
called Marble Palace <strong>Zoo</strong> in Kolkata which is still functioning.<br />
Peoples Park, Madras, (now Chennai) was established in 1855. This park no more exists and a new zoo<br />
at Vandalur has come up in 1985 in its place. Major zoos at Mumbai, Thiruvanthapuram and Lucknow<br />
come up in the later part of 19 th century and prior to independence. Many zoos like Junagarh, Jaipur,<br />
Hyderabad (Old), Udaipur, Thanjavur, Vadodara, Mysore, Gwalior and Bikaner and Jodhpur were<br />
established by erstwhile rulers during this period. Though ef<strong>for</strong>t was made by some of those zoos to<br />
provide large and even moated enclosures, most of the animals were confined to cage like heavy steel<br />
structures, with minimal or no attention <strong>for</strong> providing naturalistic environment.<br />
The role of zoos as repository of wildlife<br />
and centres <strong>for</strong> conservation awareness<br />
was realized by Government of India<br />
soon after independence and an open<br />
moated zoo was established in Delhi in<br />
1959. State Governments also followed<br />
suit, and several well planned zoos<br />
covering extensive areas were set up in<br />
many big cities. Such zoos constructed<br />
naturalistic enclosures with moats (dry<br />
and wet) as barriers <strong>for</strong> exhibiting<br />
animals <strong>for</strong> example the Ariganar Anna<br />
<strong>Zoo</strong>logical Park, Vandalur, Chennai<br />
and Indira Gandhi <strong>Zoo</strong>logical Park,<br />
Open moated enclosure <strong>for</strong> elephants at Indira Gandhi<br />
Vishakhapatnam. However, even today<br />
<strong>Zoo</strong>logical Park, Vishakhapatnam<br />
zoos with space constraint such as the<br />
Kamla Nehru Prani Sangrahalaya, Indore, V.O.C. Park <strong>Zoo</strong>, Coimbatore, Lucknow <strong>Zoo</strong>, State Museum<br />
& <strong>Zoo</strong>, Thrissur and many others, cannot provide large moated enclosures and other solutions have<br />
to be used.<br />
However, to meet the recreation needs of the people a large number of menageries and mini zoos<br />
were also established wherein little attention was paid to the well being of the animals and their<br />
management on scientific lines. The decades of 1970s and 1980s witnessed manifold increase in the<br />
number of such establishments which at the time were thought to be appropriate but now they are<br />
need of major changes.