KARACH: Waseem Akhtar, Mayor Karachi has endorsed first ever free of cost exchange of zoo animals between Safari Park administration and a private wildlife breeding farm, Kunwar Ayub, Director Safari Park has informed.
He said under an agreement between Safari Park and Amir Mustafa Private Wildlife Breeding Farm, a pair of each Arabian Oryx and Llama with matching cost of equivalent value of Rs 10 million would be handed over to Safari Park administration while a Chital, Black Buck, Blue Bull, White Fallow Deer and Fallow Deer would be given to the Farm in exchange.
This exchange programme would be matured by the end of third week of September 2017, he maintained. He advocated that due to increasing population of these animals at Park, the deal has been in favour of the Park administration with no cost. He said that talks were also underway with Lahore and Islamabad zoo administrations in respect of exchange programme of wild zoo animals.
“This programme will definitely provide benefit to us as we have plenty of zoo animals in pairs at Park and under this exchange programme, we would able to get animals that new do not have in the Park”, he maintained.
He revealed that Safari Park has a distinction of having an elephant pair as there was no any such instance in any of the zoos in the country.
He was of the view that Park would bring the breeding of animals on scientific way in order to increase their population for the purpose of exchange on no loss no profit basis.
Around 355 wild zoo animals with more than 24 species are present in the Park and they were boarding in separate enclosures under natural habitat, he revealed.
He said the number of visitors have increasing day by day as Park administration has taken foolproof security arrangements and ensured the safety of life and property of the visiting people.
The number of employees at Park stands 264 with a yearly outlay of Rs 99.8 million with a total receipt of Rs 27.9 million through entry and parking fee, in-house touring buses and rent from food and other outlets.
The employees’ salaries were being given by Karachi Metropolitan Corporation from its allocated budget for Park. Park was opened in 1970 as a public funded ‘family-only’ safari park covering an area of 207 acres of land in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. It has a zoo, geared with viewing facilities like a chairlift in closed last 4 year and safari tracks, as well as two nature lakes.
Go Aish, a segment of the Park given to a private company to run has been sealed on ground of presence of suspected criminals.
Published in Daily Times, September 14th 2017.