Sarthana Zoo got 1.49 lakh visitors during summer vacation

Surat: Over 1.49 lakh people visited Sarthana Zoo during the summer vacation, from May 5 to June 8, and the zoo made Rs 40 lakh in ticket fares, over 16% of its annual income, in just this one month. The zoo got 9,000 more visitors than last year.Sarthana Zoo became a major attraction for citizens and those visiting the city. Considering the heavy rush, the zoo authorities set up four additional ticket windows along with the four existing ones. On the last day of vacation, 10,758 visitors went to the zoo on Sunday, and with the ticket fare collection being Rs 3 lakh. Some nine lakh people visit the city zoo each year and its annual ticket collection is about around Rs 2.50 crore. "The increase in visitors is because the zoo is a major attraction for children. There are few places of recreation to interest visitors in the city," a zoo official said. Officials said the 2km long route and wide open spaces at the zoo are adequate even if 50,000 people were to visit at the same time. However, ticketing becomes an issue on holidays and during vacations. "We had four windows at the entry point. To manage the rush, we set up four additional windows so there was no crowding," an official added. "We also increase the number of staffers at the ticket window when there is a heavy rush. Meanwhile, development work is still underway at the zoo. It will have more attractions soon as we are working on animal and bird exchanges, which are imminent," an official said. Sarthana Zoo has 490 animals of 54 mammal, bird and reptile species. A distinguishing feature of the zoo is that it is the only one in the country where the smooth-coated otter breeding programme has been successful.