Research laboratories proposed for Suryabinayak Zoo to replicate natural habitat

Kshitiz Siwakoti / Kathmandu, May 15: Spread over 245 hectares the construction of research laboratories has been proposed for the upcoming Suryabinayak zoo so as to learn everything about its animals from their natural habitat and replicate their natural habitat as much as possible.

The Blueprint of the construction of the entire zoo also included the proposed research laboratories and currently awaits approval from the Department of Forests and Soil Conservation for the construction to take place.

The Director of the under-construction National Zoological Garden in Suryabinayak, Bhaktapur, Lal Bahadur Bhandari has said that the new zoo which will be spread over 245 hectares will have enough space for all animals to ensure their well being.

Bhandari has also dismissed speculations that the zoo would be a sanctuary-style zoo where people would look at the animals from an enclosed space. However, he has clarified that the animals would be enclosed in a relatively large space providing them with sufficient water and ample greenery.

“Since the zoo will be constructed within a city, we don’t have as much space as Chitwan National park to have a sanctuary-style zoo. However, since the zoo encompasses a large area of 245 hectares as compared to the seven hectares of the existing Jawalakhel zoo, the animals will have sufficient space to themselves” Bhandari said to The TRN Online.

In the existing zoo, zoo officials had said that the Rhinos could not copulate due to the lack of space. Bhandari has assured the zoo in Suryabinayak will be able to accommodate the needs of all the animals.

Unfortunately, the proposal for the construction of the Suryabinayak zoo was passed in 2015 and since then other than the construction of the parking spaces and a path around the zoo no other work has been done.

Director Lal Bahadur Bhandari has given two reasons for this. The first is that a Detailed Project Report which contains a Blueprint regarding the construction of the zoo needs to be approved by the Department of Forests and Soil Conservation. The zoo as of today is still awaiting approval and Bhandari claims this to be a complicated procedure.

The second reason he has cited is that there is a lack of manpower for the construction of the zoo. “As of now we only have 20 employees who are stationed there to preserve the zoo,” Bhandari added.

The government had allocated seven billion rupees for the construction of the zoo. As of today, 250 million rupees have been spent on the construction of the zoo.

The zoo in Suryabinyak plans to first accommodate all the animals found in Nepal first and later expand to animals foreign to Nepal.