Mumbai: Considering the popularity of Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, the civic authorities are planning to welcome new exotic animals in the zoo. But the tenders for construction of new enclosures have been scrapped twice earlier. So the BMC will now invited the tender for third time by end of the October.

After undergoing a revamp, the Byculla zoo, also known as Ranibaug, has gained more popularity. The crowds are more on weekends, and the zoo has even recorded 30,000 visitors on a single day in May 2022.

Mumbai: Byculla zoo sees 26K visitors over Diwali weekend

To make the zoo one of international standards, the civic body has plans to procure animals like white lion, cheetah, black jaguar, okapi, ringtail lemur, wallaby, and chimpanzee from international zoos.

Accordingly, a tender was invited to construct new enclosures in the zoo for these exotic animals. But after allegations accusing of the BJP of cartelisation and cost escalation, the BMC scrapped the tender twice this year.

"We will be re-tendering for the construction of enclosures soon after the Diwali. But the process to acquire new animals will take two to three years," said the senior civic official.

Presently, the zoo has welcomed a few attractive animals in the last two years.

After 13 years, a pair of Bengal tigers named Shakti and Karishma were brought from Aurangabad. The female tiger gave birth to a cub last year now known as "Veera". A new pair of leopards were brought from the Gorewada zoo in Nagpur.

The zoo was built in 1982, and is presently home to around 335 animals, birds, and reptiles, monkeys, crocodiles, an elephant, deer, a hippopotamus, penguins and birds.

Byculla Zoo, in stats:

Total area: 53 acres

Additional area for expansion: 7 acres

Animals procured recently: Bengal tigers, leopards, bear

Animals to be procured after expansion: Black jaguar, cheetah, wallaby, chimpanzee, ring tail lemur, mandrill monkey, lesser flamingo, hippo and emu.

* These enclosures are to be constructed on land received from the Mafatlal Mills adjacent to the Byculla zoo.