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Record number of visitors at Dubai Zoo

DUBAI - Dubai Zoo attracted a record number of visitors during February this year with a total of 56,866 people visiting the zoo, up by over 23 per cent from the 46,231 visitors during the same month last year.

Statistics also show that the zoo recorded last month an overall 25 per cent growth in the number of visitors as compared to January 2004 when 45,541 people visited the zoo.

This was stated by Dr. Reza Khan, Head of the Zoo Section at the Public Parks and Horticulture Department of the municipality, who noted that the high growth in the number of visitors last month could be attributed to a number of factors including the shopping festival and Eid Al Adha holidays.

The zoo had received in 2003 a total of 366,023 visitors, the highest since it was opened 12 years ago.

According to Dr Khan, the reason behind the continually growing popularity of Dubai Zoo is the variety of large and small animals it exhibits, and its small size, which allows visitors to go through the place in a fairly short period of time.

"Another reason is that we have continually been adding new species of different animals to our collection. We keep changing the pattern of the cages and continue to develop in the available space, and that is what increases the response from the members of the public," Dr Khan noted.

He pointed out that in 1990, the zoo had about 600 animals, and the collection then did not include giraffes, gorillas, and a few other animals that are very important for any zoo.

"Many of the animals confiscated at the airport, and those with private collectors keep ending up with us, and at one time our collection went up to 1,800 animals.

For reasons of better management, we have donated many of these animals to other zoos in the region and our present collection thus stands at 1,000.

This figure includes 210 mammals, 450 birds and 250 reptiles," Dr Khan commented.

According to him, the zoo's gorillas, again a result of a confiscation from the airport, are the biggest crowd pullers and are most popular with children and adults alike.

The municipality has plans to finally move the existing small zoo to a newly built zoo, a project whose first phase is included in the civic body's budget for this year.

Construction of this initial phase is expected to be finished within 2005.