City to acquire more animals for zoo

VISITORS can expect to see more animals and a carousel in the Cebu City Zoo soon.

Zoo keepers will buy more animals from abroad for local visitors and more domestic animals for foreign visitors to see, said Dr. Alice Utlang, head of Cebu City’s Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fishery.

They plan to acquire an albino carabao and Casuari, deer and a female Bengal tiger to give Bogart, the zoo’s lone tiger a mate, said Giovanni Romarate, Cebu City zoo manager.

The zoo’s only cobra and two colasisi died of old age earlier this year, he said.

Utlang said they aim to adopt international standards for keeping zoo animals free from pain, stress, hunger, thirst and disease.

They also want zoo staff to be given venom vaccines.

Utlang said procurement of veterinary supplies for the zoo is slow and should be improved this year.

Romarate said they will also replace cages with better barriers for the animals “so that they would not feel like captives.”

The zoo would be transformed to make it look more like the animals’ natural habitat.

They will also build a carousel in the zoo atrract more visitors, Romarate said.

From January to May 2011, the zoo recorded 400,000 visitors compared to 700,000 visitors from January to June last year.

Romarate attributed the fall in the number of visitors to bad weather in recent weeks and said they still have to include figures for the month of June.