Changing face of Zoo

Most of us would have fond memories of visiting zoo with friends & family in our childhood days. It used to be a fun-filled day to go around the huge space, to get a glance of wild & ferocious animals in  close vicinity and we would carry back a ton of memories to ponder over in following days.

 

To keep pace with changing needs & times, the Aringar Anna Zoological Park, popularly known as Vandalur Zoo, takes several innovative steps. To start with, their website is updated and gives you all information you need. From booking tickets to avoid crowded counters to booking a ride inside, it makes our job easier and the website is thoroughly user-friendly.

Secondly, the live telecast 24*7 is really cool and we could make our children visit the application/website and see what their favorite animal does at the moment. Though it is not as thrilling as it would be to spot the animal in person, this is definitely engaging for children. This is called as Live Virtual Zoo! Do take a look if you haven't seen before!

Thirdly, the Zoo has several programmes to involve public and children. Some of those are Zoo School, Certificate programmes, Zoo club, in-house training and orientation. Yet, I find "Zoo Ambassador" programme to be the most attractive. Children get enrolled either in summer or winter camps and get hands-on experience of animals, ecosystem and exposure to expert knowledge. The same programme is free for government school children for one day. Importantly, there are many incentives & gifts given to the children who become ambassadors of Zoo. Parents may consider this programme during the next spell. 

 Lastly, the Zoo gives us an opportunity to contribute to the welfare of those Zoo animals by means of adoption! One can adopt any animal for any number of days based on our interest, liking and financial status. The need to look after these animals has grown post-Covid and by making a contribution to our ability could be our way of thanking those animals for entertaining us, to say the least! We could encourage our children to independently save in their piggy-bank every year and could make the contribution from their own hands. It might thrill them to learn the fact that they had fed an elephant or lion one day from their own pocket money!! 

 

There are other contests and events conducted regularly and visiting their website would give us those notifications. The role of Zoo has become more interactive and it's our turn to plunge in with our kids!