Mumbai’s Byculla Zoo spent Rs 8.25 crore for the lion enclosure, Rs 7.15 crore for the wolves and Rs 3.82 crore for the third otter. For prey – no lions, wolves or otters.
The zoo spent almost R20 million buying an empty cage, according to a Right To Information investigation by The Young Whistleblowers Foundation, which criticized the zoo’s “extra spending on enclosures for animals that do not yet belong to the zoo”.
“Such expenses defy logic and taxation. It would make sense to build these pens when the animals were approved for adoption. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s decision to invest heavily in enclosures without a clear plan to acquire the animals is clearly an inappropriate use of public funds,” the group said. Activists questioned the zoo over the lavish sums spent on the still empty enclosures. A BMC official said to the news site that it makes more sense to build enclosures now because prices may The official claimed that due to the high cost of stainless steel, concrete and other materials, the zoo will have to “spend almost twice as much”. as a “one-time cost”, the official said that they were built with the approval required by the authorities, including the Union Ministry of Animal Husbandry.
Another official told another news outlet that “his process to get new animals takes time” and that the pens were built before the new arrivals. The deal to swap zebras for lions at a German zoo has been stalled for years, this official said.
