Zoos, national parks closed from today

Hyderabad: Zoo parks, national parks, tiger reserves, wildlife sanctuaries and other protected areas in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will be off for the visitors. A decision to this effect has been taken by the Forest department authorities following two separate alerts received from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) on Saturday.

Following this, the Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad, Kakatiya Zoological Park, Warangal, Karwal and Amrabad Tiger Reserves in Telangana; Indira Gandhi Zoological Park, Visakhapatnam, Venkateswara Zoological Park, Tirupati, Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam part of the tiger reserve in Andhra Pradesh; and, all the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and protected in areas will be closed with effect from May 2.

The NTCA and CZA have said that given the rapid spread of coronavirus in the country, the State wildlife and zoo authorities have been asked to close all the zoo parks, national parks, tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries for visitors till further orders to control the spread of Covid pandemic.

The NTCA said that the advisory has been issued because of the spread of the Covid-19 in the country and reports of the death of lions due to Covid-19. It felt that there are possibilities of spread of the virus amongst animals in national parks, sanctuaries and other protected areas. Also transmission of the virus from humans to animals and vice-versa.

Against this backdrop, the States have been advised to close the national parks and sanctuaries and other protected areas for tourists immediately. The State authorities have been asked to take immediate preventive measures to stop the transmission and spread of the virus from humans to animals and vice-versa, in national parks, sanctuary and other protected areas. Further, the State wildlife authorities were asked to reduce the human-wildlife interface.

The NTCA advisory said that there are reports of transmission from both symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers, human beings, of the disease and the Covid-19 affected persons may or may not exhibit symptoms. Hence, the field functionaries must be Covid negative when they are deputed for duty and should follow the Covid-appropriate behaviour such as maintain social distancing, wearing of mask, proper screening, regular sanitisation etc.

That apart, steps should also be taken to restrict the movement of people to national parks, sanctuaries and protected areas. The Forest authorities were asked to constitute a task force, a rapid action force with field managers, veterinary doctors frontline staff to manage the situation as quickly as possible, and create a 24/7 reporting mechanism with a nodal officer for swift management of any cases noticed, besides setting up essential services for emergency treatment of animals and their release into their natural habitats as and when required.

The Forest authorities asked to enhance disease surveillance, mapping and monitoring system through coordinated efforts among various departments. They were also asked to maintain all other stipulations issued by the Union Health Ministry in the movement of villagers etc in and around the national parks, sanctuaries and other protected areas.