Restoration
With summer already setting in, the summer management team will also start preparing for elephant shower and other season specific activities. Although the green cover of the park cannot be restored immediately, biologists have started working on recouping strategies. The park only had trees that naturally grew there, now replanting would mean targetted species.
An official says the park would not have its natural habitat anymore. “We realised that it was mostly the tall trees that fell. So we have shortlisted 50 mid-height native and tropical dry evergreen species.”
The list includes trees such as vilvam (Aegle marmelos), kadambu (Anthocephalus cadamba), mantharai (Bauhinia purpurea), punnai (Calophyllum inophyllum), nuna (Morinda pubescens), mahagoni (Swietenia mahagoni) and puvarasu (Thespesia populnea). “The zoo will get a face-lift when these trees grow,” adds the spokesperson.
Birds
The feathered beings confined within cages are still reeling from the effects of the cyclone. The relatively flimsy metal cages bent easily with falling objects. Workers still hustle about the cages trying to fix some of them. Although some of the cages are empty, park officials claim that birds haven’t escaped or injured. Biologists had hand-picked pockets of high bird-density zones and renovated the place to provide a comfortable habitat for free birds. These pockets were then groomed with little wooden bird houses and feeders. However, hundreds of wooden-box nests that were tied to tree branches, had collapsed to the ground.
Th
e only beings in the park that seemed fairly unaffected by the cyclone were the water birds (pic above). The feathered residents of the water-bird enclosure seemed to be having a gala time as the water pond below them is kept fresh by Murugan, their keeper. “We spread jute mats on their cage’s roof and spray it with water periodically to keep the enclosure cool,” he says. Murugan also makes sure that the pond is refilled with fresh fish that the birdslook for. Birds are distributed in every part of the cage – on the floor, in the water, on the rods, in the branches, on wooden planks and in nests.
Night herons sit as still as statues! Flamingoes go about their chores as they stand adamantly on one leg. Grey pelicans all sit in a neat row, like an army regiment. The painted storks bask in the sun as they expose their vibrant pink backs and spread their wings offering shade to their young ones. Little chicks adorn the nests in the water bird enclosure.
As the storks, pelicans, flamingos and other big birds catch fish from their ‘indoor’ ponds, little egrets hop near them hoping to tear tiny pieces from the bigger beaks. Between voices that sound like creaking doors and a dying man, the cacophony makes one wonder if birds speak each others’ language.
Hunters
The white bellied sea eagle (pic above), and the grey vulture nearby with sharp eyes and a beak that would intimidate even the boldest visitor, seemed offended by peering visitors. These gigantic birds have two more aggressive neighbours. A toucan with its massive beak hops from one part of its cage to another as it nods its head like it knows your secret. The only inmate who seem keen on talking here are the kites that soar restlessly within their cages. However one can’t classify the animal neighbours into the chatty and non-chatty kind.
Animals
Soundarya, a hippopotamus, snorts water from her nostrils to ward off the raven nearby. Trisha, another hippo, falls asleep with her back still submerged in the cool pond. The bisons huddle up on dry land and sleep under the noon sun. More than one kind of deer is propped up together in the same enclosure as their own maybe damaged. The sambhar forages little blades of grass near toppled roots of massive trees. The chimpanzees have, however, adapted themselves to the reduced number of trees in their enclosure. Every now and then, they converse with curious children in sign language or bribe their keepers with a clap for each banana they get. When not social, they go to a corner in their cemented slide and sleep in bizarre postures
Apart from the four tiger cubs and their mothers, several other carnivores in the park, growl and snarl when visitors cat-call. The white tiger attracts most visitors while lions perch on elevated grounds from where they can watch the deers. The leopard with its impeccable print walks back and forth like it made a bad investment.
More number of children are visiting the park. Though couples cannot hide behind bushes, there is a new kind of romantic look to the zoo. Most enclosures are restored and public facilities like drinking water and toilets are repaired. Even the two bison calves that were born during the cyclone have gotten used to visitors.
Fallen Trees
Heaps of logs everywhere, workers carry corrugated roofing sheets to fix them atop damaged cages, bases of large uprooted trees lie tipped on the floor and large holes fill the enclosure fences… these stand testimony to the post-traumatic phase the zoo is going through. Falling trees brought down with it the roofs, resting areas, enclosure walls and fences, drinking water tanks and other structures.
The park that has become twice as bright and hotter by at least 4°C compared to last February, is still trying to clear out the fallen wood. Nearly 15,000 trees fell during Vardah; this has made cleaning extremely labour-intensive.
The park’s spokesperson says, “More than 5,000 metric tonnes of Eucalyptus trees were already auctioned along with 1,000 tonnes of miscellaneous wood. We may easily have about another 1,500 tonnes still piled up in different parts of the park.”
Sunshine that only weaved through the shade of trees before the cyclone, now lights up the cement roads and enclosures. “Not once have I felt the heat in the five years I’ve worked here. Even in summers, the park is at least four to five degrees cooler. It’s only February and the heat is already draining us!” says a driver of the zoo’s safari.
According to zoo officials, trees mostly fell within the zoo area. “Only trees in dense areas succumbed to the heavy wind. Hence, the situation was bad within the campus but manageable in the forest area behind,” he says. The cost of damage too was higher within the zoo as fallen trees damaged the infrastructure. This loss simply translates to a sudden loss of habitat for thousands of animals. While squirrels are barely seen in the park, birds too face a heavy loss.