KARACHI: After remaining closed for months, the fish aquarium at Karachi Zoo was opened for public on Saturday following a renewal and refurbishment project launched by Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab promising more such projects across the city for recreational activities.

Accompanied by deputy mayor Salman Murad, Mayor Wahab inaugurated the newly renovated fish aquarium at the zoo and shared his plans for building more spaces like this in the metropolis and adding more value to the Karachi Zoological Garden.

“I firmly believe that there’s enough space and need to add more animals to this zoo,” he said while talking to reporters after the aquarium inauguration.

Wahab says efforts underway to relocate Madhubala

“In the days to come, you would see things happening not only here at Karachi Zoo, but also at other spots of the city. This zoo needs lot to be done to bring at par with the international standards and we are on it.”

To a question, he said that the efforts were underway to shift the lone female elephant of the Karachi Zoological Garden, Madhubala, to the Safari Park as recommended by the team of veterinarians and wildlife experts from the international animal welfare organisation, Four Paws, last month after examining her deteriorating health condition.

The city administrator said that his target was to see the fish aquarium opened and he’s happy that another value was added to the Karachi zoo to attract more visitors.

“All of us with memories of coming here as children will then be bringing our children here. This place is not just a zoo, but also an excellent botanical garden where two hundred years old rare trees are present,” he said referring to his recent initiative of rehabilitating all the parks of the city.

“In doing so, we are also working on making the parks and other public places visitor-friendly. This area of this zoo alone is about 33 acres, 40 per cent of which is reserved for animals, birds and marine life, including mammals, birds, reptiles and fish, which are kept in 117 cages. While the remaining 60pc of the zoo is based on lawns, ponds, Mughal gardens, canteens and amusement parks,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2023