Visitors throng zoo, children’s park in Tamil Nadu – Times of India

CHENNAI: Arignar Anna Zoological Park (AAZP) and other getaway spots such as Guindy children’s park welcomed a good many people on New Year’s weekend, almost on par with pre-Covid times.
AAZP had 17,000 visitors on Saturday and 25,000 on Sunday. About 6,700 people visited Guindy children’s park on Saturday and about 9,100 on Sunday.

Forest department officials managed the weekend crowd and have planned to deploy hundreds of temporary workers and field officials to prepare for the Pongal crowd.
In 2019, about 56,000 people visited the Vandalur zoo on Kaanum Pongal day and more than 20,000 visited the children’s park.
E Prashant, Chennai’s wildlife warden said that they are already seeing pre-Covid level crowds.

They will set up extra ticketing counters, barricades and separate exit points. They will also set up selfie points and a few new attractions.
“We will make the arrangements as smooth as possible,” he said.
“We advise public not to feed the animals or harass them. Plastic should be disposed properly, and visitors should avoid littering,” he added.
At the zoo, enrichments have already been added at snake enclosures, monitor lizards, and sand has been changed in all reptile enclosures. Aquarium will be closed, and the battery-operated vehicles (BOVs) won’t run. Manikandaprabhu, assistant zoo director, stated that enclosures situated a little inside the zoo will be barricaded to avoid crowding.
“We will deploy more than 100 forest officials from across the state. We will stop the battery-operated vehicles at that time. We plan to purchase 30 more BOVs but that won’t be sufficient. About 23 water points will be added, medical teams will be deployed and enclosures where crowding and stampede is expected to take place will be closed,” he said.
Srinivas Reddy, chief wildlife warden and zoo director stated that they are prepared for the crowd.
“We expect higher numbers this year. We will inform the police officials, fire department, collectors and other line departments for help. Extra counters will be set up and all arrangements, from traffic management to crowd management, will be made inside the zoo,” he said