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Historical Places >>Dhaka Zoo
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Zoological
Garden (chidyakhana) public
or private park where living animals
are kept for exhibition, recreation
and study. The menageries and aviaries
of China, Egypt, and Rome were famous
in ancient times. From the late
medieval period many rulers had
private menageries, some of which
later formed the nucleus of public
exhibits. Nearly all-large cities
now have zoological reserves. Modern
trends include breeding threatened
animals in captivity, exhibiting
animals in enclosures simulating
their natural habitat rather than
in cages (open-range zones or safari
parks), and educating the public
about principles of ecology. |
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In
Bengal in the early 19th century, starting
from 1801 there were four well-documented
institutions in Calcutta, which could
be called menageries or even zoos and
a host of hearsay private collections.
The rich forests of Northeast India, Burma
(now Myanmar) and other border countries,
and the state of Bengal itself has its
own rich forests to supply a very great
diversity of animal life. Calcutta also
was a gateway or seaport to the rest of
southern Asia (even South India and Sri
Lanka) and South East Asia which guaranteed
a steady flow of animal life into Calcutta.
These factors alone are sufficient to
account for the phenomenon that four early
and most interesting zoos or menageries
originated in Calcutta. They were: 1.
Barrackpore Menagerie, founded c 1801
and closed c 1879; 2. Wazir Ali Shah's
menagerie founded c 1830's and wound up
c 1880; 3. Marble Palace Zoo, founded
1854 and continuing but in decline; and
4. Alipore Zoo, founded in 1875, continuing
and renovating.
The Marble Palace Zoo (1854 to present)
Rajah Rajendro Mullick Bahadur founded
the Marble Palace Zoo in Chorebagan, Calcutta
in 1854, and it still stands today in
the centre of Kolkata city. The Rajah
consciously and intentionally founded
it as a public service for education and
entertainment of the public. Rajah Rajendro
Mullick was a student of natural history
and the menagerie in his house contained
birds and mammals collected from different
parts of the world as well as India. The
zoo had important (animal) collections,
even before opening to the public. Mullick
gave numerous animals to other institutions
such as London Zoo. He also gave the Calcutta
Zoo valuable animals and was honoured
by having the first animal house named
after him. Persons who admired and cared
deeply about the dramatic and beautiful
interesting creatures from around the
globe nurtured Marble Palace Zoo. Much
thought went into the keeping and display.
The first cage ever to be constructed
in the Marble Palace Zoo still stands,
today holding rabbits and guinea pigs.
Even the travelling cages of early days
are still there.
Alipore Zoological Garden (1875 to the
present): Although Barrackpore Menagerie
continued, there were people even as early
as 1841, who felt that Calcutta should
have a proper zoo. The July 1841 issue
of the Calcutta Journal of Natural History
relates a proposal by Mr. Raleigh for
the establishment of a Zoological Garden.
In February 1873, Mr. L Schwendier, a
member of the Council of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal, detailed the scheme for the
establishment of the Zoological Garden.
The Society and the Agri-Horticultural
Society approved his suggestions. The
principal features of the original scheme
were: (i) to provide recreation, instruction
and amusement for all classes of the community;
(ii) to facilitate scientific observations
of the habits of animals, more especially
those peculiar to tropical countries;
(iii) to encourage the acclimatization,
domestication, and breeding of animals
and to improve the indigenous breed of
cattle and farm stock; and (iv) to promote
the science of Zoology by the interchange,
import and export of animals.
An area of about 14 ha of land was allotted
at Alipore by the Government of Bengal
and development work started at the instance
of Sir Richard Temple, the then Lt. Governor
of Bengal. Mr. Schwendler readily donated
his fine collection of specimens, and
by December 1875 a sizeable menagerie
was established with the spontaneous contributions
from a number of donors. Raja Surjakanta
Acharya Chaudhury of Mymensingh, and the
Nawab Abdul Gani and Khajah Ahsanullah
Khan Bahadur of Dacca were among the donors.
King Emperor Edward VII, the then Prince
of Wales, drove through the Garden on
his way to Belvedere on the afternoon
of 27 December, 1875 in the presence of
the elite of Calcutta and inaugurated
the zoo formally on the 1st of January,
1875. However, the zoo was made open to
the public on the 1st of May 1876. Two
young elephants and a leopard were sent
to the Garden as a token of interest evinced
by His Royal Highness who consented to
be the patron of the garden. Ever since
the starting of the zoo, the management
of the Garden has been vested in an honorary
committee appointed by the Government.
At present the garden is run under the
Alipore Zoological Garden (Management)
Rules 1957 framed under the Bengal Public
Parks Act, 1904 and the Managing Committee
consists of 22 members (of which 10 are
ex-officio members), nominated by the
State Government.
Twenty thousand visitors a day is not
unusual, and on special days the count
reaches 100,000. The first attempt of
modernisation of the zoo was made in 1957
when the authorities of the zoo constructed
an open-air enclosure for tigers. The
construction and opening of a freshwater
aquarium in l977 added a new dimension
to the Alipore Zoo. It was the first significant
addition to the zoo after its centenary.
It is one of the largest freshwater aquarium
in the Eastern India having 17 large and
48 small tanks. It has now about 1500
freshwater fishes belonging to different
species both exotic and indigenous.
A spacious (1064 sq m) new reptile house
was established in 1979 for better housing
and display of different reptiles. It
has 48 exhibition cages arranged in circular
fashion for display of different species
of reptiles and a big central pool with
a canopy of dome shaped wire netted roof
for exhibition of crocodiles and gharials.
The construction of new small carnivora
house in 1981 with twelve large cages
has provided a good opportunity for better
exhibition and breeding of jaguar and
other carnivores. An open air enclosure
for bears having six dens have been constructed
in 1985. An open-air enclosure for elephants
was constructed in 1999. The most significant
and striking achievement of Alipore Zoological
Garden is the breeding of giraffe in 1988.
The zoo is still holding a Giant Tortoise
in its collection since 1875.
Principally the gate receipts, supplemented
by annual grants received from the State
Government maintain the garden. The garden,
as it stands today stretches over 16 hectares
of land with its charming layout of lawns,
flower beds, lakes, bridges, avenues,
animal houses, aviaries, waterways, plants,
and shrubbery. [Md. Anwarul Islam]
Dhaka Zoo the largest zoo in Bangladesh,
situated at Mirpur about 16 km from the
centre of Dhaka city. It is the national
zoo under the Ministry of Fisheries and
Livestock, started as a menagerie at the
High Court Premises in Dhaka in 1964,
and moved to its present location in 1974.
In the same year it was ceremonially opened
for public on June 23. The zoo occupies
an area of about 75 ha. It has two lakes
of about 13 ha, which receive thousands
of waterfowls every year in winter.
The total number of vertebrate fauna in
the zoo is about 2,150 in 191 species.
Included in these animals, are about 551
mammals under 64 species, 1,543 birds
under 90 species, 73 reptiles under 15
species, and about 104 aquarium fishes
under 23 species. To attract visitors
besides many fascinating animals, there
are 15 tigers, 21 lions, 9 hippopotamus,
about 200 monkeys, and 33 pythons. Moreover,
some rare and interesting animals such
as the rhea, peacock, zebra, elephant,
African grey parrot, water buck, impala,
emu, baboon, chimpanzee, gayal, black
bear, tapir, mandrill, and estuarine crocodile
provide additional entertainment to the
visitors.
The zoo has a captive breeding programme
and successfully bred the Royal Bengal
Tiger, lion, leopard, primates, deer,
and many birds. It has animal exchange
programmes with many zoos of the world.
As gifts Bangladesh government presented
about 300 zoo animals to different organisations
and personalities of different countries
including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain,
and Iraq. The zoo regularly organizes
various education programmes for students.
The various ornamental features of the
garden provides an aesthetic background
to the animal houses, enclosures and aviaries,
scattered all over the area, exhibiting
indigenous fauna of Bangladesh as well
as exotic specimens collected from different
countries of the world.
About 3 million visitors visit the Dhaka
Zoo every year. Except Sunday the zoo
remains open on other weekdays from 8:00
am to 5:00 pm (October-March) and from
8:00 am to 6:00 pm (April-September).
It also remains opens to the visitors
for certain hours during government holidays.
The beautiful natural environments of
the zoo offer almost all recreational
facilities to the visitors, a large part
of which is constituted by the students
and children. The zoo has an advisory
committee headed by the Minister, Ministry
of Fisheries and Livestock.
Outside Dhaka there are 5 more zoos in
the towns of Rangpur, Chittagong, Rajshahi,
Comilla, and Khulna. The Ministry of Fisheries
and Livestock runs the Rangpur Zoo, and
the Khulna Zoo is looked after by armed
forces. Local government authorities run
the other 3 zoos. [M Shahidullah]
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