A peaceful Eid for the zoo animals

The zoo at Mirpur in the capital city took on a very different look this Eid. Gone were the usual throng of visitors, the hustle and bustle, the fun and the frolic. The animals and birds were there as usual and it hardly made a difference to them that there were no visitors. But this is not how it normally is, especially during holidays.

Abdur Rahman is the night guard at the Bangladesh National Zoo in Mirpur, Dhaka. He is almost 60 years old and has been working at the zoo for around 35 years now. This is the first time he has seen the zoo closed during Eid.

Over the past two and a half months he has been quite idle at the zoo. But this Eid seems so strange. Normally during Eid he has a busy time dealing with the thousands of visitors coming to see the animals. This Monday, Eid day, the main gate is closed. There are no crowds, just silence. The coronavirus pandemic has robbed the zoo of its normal Eid festivity.

Near the entrance the spotted deer stood in their enclosure, peacefully eating grass and leaves, undisturbed by prying visitors. Some were just enjoying the quiet surroundings under the shady trees.

Then there were the monkeys. They are used to visitors tossing them nuts, but they seem happy enough to be left undisturbed by the crowds.

The tigers, lions, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, elephants, hyenas, donkeys, giraffes, crocodiles, peacocks, zebras, horses, in fact all the 2750 animals or so in the zoo, seem quite pleased at this respite from the noise and crowds.

The animals might be happy at this absence of visitors, but it has meant no revenue for the zoo. Speaking to Prothom Alo, the Bangladesh National Zoo curator Nurul Islam said, normally during Eid around 100,000 visitors come to the zoo. The crowds continue for almost a week during the Eid season.

But coronavirus has changed everything. Visitors have been prohibited since 20 March and it is uncertain when the zoo will reopen. However, he adds, the animals are quite happy. “I haven’t seen them doing so well before. They have no fear or alarm. We are hoping for new animals to be born too,” he said.

The peace and calm seems to have increased the animals’ appetites too. Sanjeeb Kumar Roy, an official of the zoo’s animal nutrition department, told Prothom Alo that animals tend to eat less when there are a lot of crowds and a lot of their food remains uneaten. Nothing is wasted now.

Bimal Chandra Mandal, proprietor of Shikha Traders, the company which has the contract to sell the admission tickets at the zoo entrance, said that their business has been hit hard.

He said, “We took the contract to sell tickets worth Tk 120 million for one year and normally this Eid-ul-Fitr means peak sales. But this time the zoo has been closed not only on Eid, but for Pahela Baishakh as well, because of coronavirus. I don’t know when things will be back to normal.”