Hyderabad Zoo Corps

In an innovative exercise aimed at strengthening its educational activities, the Nehru Zoological Park has come out with Hyderabad Zoo Corps roping in the services of young students.

So far, around 55 students have joined the corps started on the lines of National Green Corps (NGC) which has been active in spreading messages pertaining to environment. Each Sunday and also on public holidays, when the number of visitors is high, these students drop in at the zoo and spend the day engaged in a wide ranging activities assisting the staff in the upkeep.

“Members of the Hyderabad Zoo Corps work on voluntary basis and help us in offering guidance to the visitors, zoo policing and also in security,” says Zoo Director P.Mallikarjuna Rao. Fanning out into various sectors of the vast zoo premises, they also keep an eye on practices that visitors are prohibited from here such as straying too close to the enclosures or feeding to animals.

The newly formed corps is primarily composed of students of Guru Nanak Engineering College and more have been evincing interest to join the group. “We are working out schedules to be able to accommodate more youngsters and rotate it,” he informs. The corps has been given basic training and equipped with special identity cards and a uniform to make them conspicuous.

The other recent initiatives from the zoo authorities on making the facility more interactive and educative include regular shows such as ‘snake show' where experts give detailed presentations for the visitors at regular intervals.

For last few years, the zoo has also been toying with various options to check the pollution from vehicles inside the premises. Towards this end, the entry fee of the cars has been hiked a couple of years which did yield some positive result.

Source: The Hindu