Under the 40-degree plus sun, Delhi Zoo goes into summer protocol

It’s 7 am and Heera Gaj (50) and Rajalakshmi (35) have woken up to a stunning sunrise, visible over the ruins of the Delhi Old Fort. Soon the sun won’t seem as pleasant, but for now the two 10-ft tall elephants are taking a leisurely stroll, ears flapping, trunks swaying, through a verdant patch. ‘Mahaut’ Kuliemimboro accompanies the two largest mammals at the zoo in their morning exercise. The walk, usually an hour long, has been cut to 45 minutes because of the heat.

By the time they return to the elephant enclosure, a “light breakfast”, of 8 kg bananas, is ready. As Kuliemimboro explains, “The bananas help maintain the water balance in body and protect Heera and Rajalakshmi from heat stroke.” With experience, zoo officials know that keeping the stomach light is the best trick for summer.

Watch Under The 40-Degree Plus Sun, Delhi Zoo Goes Into Summer Protocol

In cooler times, the elephants are fed bucket-loads of un-ripe amla, which is rich in Vitamin C and builds immunity.

Like the other zoo supplies, bananas are delivered daily by a supplier who got the contract via a tender.

The food meant for the elephants.

Around 9 am, the elephants are led for a bath, where they are hosed down with special pressure pipes. As he ensures water washes every part of their body, Kuliemimboro says, “The shower is not just to keep them cool. It is to know whether they are keeping well in the heat. Are they energetic and sprightly? Or do they appear tired? The morning shower answers these questions. It also creates trust. When they are scrubbed, they love it.”

While Heera appears to be enjoying his bath, Rajalakshmi stands quietly under an umbrella-shaped shelter. Kuliemimboro doesn’t think there is any cause for worry. The elephants, brought to the zoo 30 years back from Kanpur, have not reported any illness this year. Originally from Assam, Kuliemimboro himself has been here only a year and earns Rs 15,000 a month.

To be a keeper for elephants or the big cats, one needs to be at least Class X pass and have minimum three years of “skilled experience”. Kuliemimboro, who also looked after elephants back home, is a permanent employee, which means his salary is indexed to the Pay Commission and he gets Central government dearness allowance. Many of the employees, like Kuliemimboro, live in staff quarters on the premises.

Satisfied all is well, Kuliemimboro next leads the elephants to a big, open sand pit where Heera and Rajalakshmi roll around in the mud, to cool their thick skin that has started heating up.

Heera again seems to be having the most fun. Visitors have started trickling in by now, and as they watch him, he scrubs himself and deposits sand onto his back with his trunk.

“In summer, the number of sand pits is increased. The dust also guards the elephants from harmful sun rays and prevents itching,” says Kuliemimboro.

A diet chart for the summer has been put up in a 10×10 ft room located around 500 metres away. Kuliemimboro goes by it to prepare the meal for the elephants with the help of two others.

Again, in concession to the weather, it is mostly “khichdi” these days. About 30 kg of rice is made separately and mixed with 10 kg of moong dal and mustard oil. The cooking starts at 11 am, for the khichdi to be ready before 2 pm. It is then transferred to a special wheelbarrow-like trolley, where it is kept for cooling for three hours. “Only at five, after the zoo is closed for visitors, will the meal be served,” says Kuliemimboro.

As evening sets in, Heera and Rajalakshmi retire to a semi-conical enclosure, open on one side. There is a partition in the middle to ensure they don’t fight at night. By now the weather is cool enough for them not to need any special arrangements — making them an exception for the zoo.

2 adult tigers, 4 cubs; 22,500 sq m area

Ideal temperature for white tigers: 20-35° C

On September 24 last year, Vijay had grabbed headlines for mauling to death a 20-year-old man who had fallen into his enclosure. This summer, all efforts have been put in place to ensure that the 200-kg white tiger remains calm.

Since the incident, Vijay, who was born at the zoo in 2008 — in a case of mating the officials are proud of — has fathered four cubs. In the mornings, it is Kalpana and the cubs who are let out into the open space in the enclosure for public viewing. Once the temperature starts dipping by 2 pm, Vijay comes out. Care is taken to ensure that the cubs do not make any contact with the father.

Vijay gets a morning bath in his special enclosure, which is the only one monitored with a CCTV camera.

Says caretaker Yameen, “Vijay can get aggressive in summer. This is to ensure that the four cubs do not get intimidated by him.”

His enclosure, with 20-ft high walls on three sides, is the only one in the zoo to be monitored with a CCTV camera. Besides, a private guard has been delegated at the spot from where the public views him.

Four desert coolers operate round the clock in the area where he rests. On hotter days, Vijay can wade into a V-shaped artificial pond with a cement boundary. Water mixed with glucose is fed into the pool, where the tiger also drinks from, to keep him hydrated.

Kalpana and the cubs stay in separate steel cages, each one with a cooler. While the female cubs are called Meeta, Neeta, Rita, the male bears a more majestic name, Tipu.

Fateh Singh, 55, has been taking care of the tigers for 30 years. He says it is a skilled job, requiring “special training”, and that there are risks. However, working with the tigers doesn’t get him any extra perks. Yameen, 27, joined Fateh recently as there are two enclosures to look after.

Yameen after dropping food into the cage as Kalpana walks in. Her cubs with Vijay are in separate enclosures.

At 12.30 pm, the tigers are served their only meal of the day. Ten kilogrammes of buffalo meat is divided and kept in each of their enclosures — 2 kg less in summers than the rest of the year. “I have to leave for namaz by 1.30 pm,” Yameen says, adding that apart from lesser red meat, they also add white meat to the tiger meal in summers.

The meat is delivered to the zoo by suppliers by 8 am everyday. At the meat house on the premises, it is segregated for different enclosures. It is then weighed and transferred into plastic buckets for transporting.

P C Ray, who has been working with the zoo for 20 years, transporting the meat to the enclosures.

Naresh, 28, divides the meat while P C Ray, who has been working with the zoo for 20 years, delivers it to the enclosures. Naresh is not a permanent employee as yet.

Outside, Kalpana and her cubs are playing in a 50-m-long pool designed for the summer. After some minutes, they sit down, only their necks visible above the water.

Glucose again comes in handy. “When the four come inside with their mother, we first give them glucose-mixed water in stone bowls. It is only after this that they are served the meal. They munch the meat for over four hours,” Yameen says.

Friday, when the zoo is shut, is one day of the week when the animals aren’t fed red meat.

Vijay in a pond with glucose water. He had shot to national notoriety last year after he mauled a man who fell into his enclosure.

1 leopard; 2,000 sq m area

Ideal temperature for leopards: 20-30° C

The other big cat at the zoo, a leopard is said to not need too much water and live off the moisture of its prey. However, it’s too hot for that law of nature to work.

So, like the tigers, six-year-old Salman, who was born at the zoo, is also given glucose. Plus, its food has been rationed to 5 kg of buffalo meat daily, from 7-8 kg at other times.

Apart from a cooler, a special green shade blocks the sun and provides Salman respite from the heat, while also giving the animal that is known to be very shy a feel of wilderness. Such special arrangements have also been made for jackals and hyenas — two other creatures of the night.

Leopard Salman has a cooler plus a special green shade to block out sun rays.

“The shade keeps out 75 per cent of the sun rays. You will never find a leopard in the desert, which has no green cover. This green shade helps it feel at home even during the dry summers in Delhi,” says Balle Ram, who has been guarding this enclosure for over two decades.

The 50-year-old is a father of two, both of whom work as daily wagers, and says he won’t be happy to retire. Pointing out that he has seen at least a dozen leopards come and go, he remarks, “Sirf mausam badla hai, aur kuchch nahin (Only the weather has changed, nothing else).”

1 sloth bear and 6 Himalayan Black Bears: 20,000 sq m area

Ideal temperature for sloth bears: 20-30° C; for Himalayan bears: -2° to 18° C

Here is a wild one getting special attention these days since a fellow sloth bear, all of 6, escaped the Hyderabad Zoo a month ago. It was reportedly disturbed due to the extreme heat.

Riaz Khan says they can’t take things lightly with their own sloth bear now.

Known to be a reclusive animal, the Delhi Zoo sloth bear lives in an enclosure where two coolers work round-the-clock. But with its thick black fur still making the Capital heat almost unbearable, their diet has to be more closely monitored than that of others.

A special addition is bael, the Indian fruit known as wood apple, offered at regular intervals. “The wood apple controls excessive thirst. It also has medicinal value. Outdoor cooling can contribute only a little to maintaining the heat balance of the animal. It is only through diet that one can solve the problem of heat stroke,” says Khan.

Apart from bael, the bear is fed cucumbers, water melons, melons, cheeku and beetroot (around 2.5 kg of food in all daily). In winter, this is changed to a lot of sweet potato and singhara.

While bears are omnivores, the Delhi Zoo sloth bear is by now a “vegetarian”. However, notes Khan, it is given “kheer”, prepared in the pantry, and eggs.

Not in summer though. “The bread and milk content is being reduced. We have also stopped giving eggs, especially when the temperature is very high,” Khan says.

Apart from the tigers, Fateh Singh also takes care of the bear enclosure.

The enclosure for the Himalayan Black Bears, which have a similar diet, is nearby. It has four females, but the authorities haven’t been able to shift the two males in. Brought from Himachal Pradesh in March for breeding, they are still in a temperature-controlled room at the zoo’s veterinary hospital, slowly adapting to the climate.

During their first two weeks here, sources say, the Black Bears were kept at zero-degree temperature. The bears were then shifted to a “cool temperature”, maintained by desert coolers. Currently, they are in a room with fans. “We are slowly making them adapt to Delhi’s climate. They are responding well and should be out by the end of August. The females (who have been in the zoo for five years) will not get to see their male counterparts this summer,” a source laughed.

100 antelopes; 62,500 sq m area

Ideal temperature for deer: 25-30° C

In a first for the Delhi Zoo, the deer enclosure now has a 360-degree sprinkler. It is meant for the zoo’s most vulnerable species, the black buck, also known as the Indian antelope.

Leopard Salman has a cooler plus a special green shade to block out sun rays.

Black bucks usually inhabit grassy plains and slightly forested areas. So this summer a hundred new plants were planned well in advance to make the enclosure greener.

“Due to their vulnerability, the special sprinklers are run once every two hours till the sun sets. So the enclosure is always moist and cool. After the installation, we have not received a single complaint from this enclosure during the summers,” Khan says.

The deer are fed green vegetables, bengal gram, wheat, maize and oats during the summer.

Despite the special arrangement, it is here that the officials have had their biggest scare this time. In the last three months, 16 spotted deer have died due to suspected rabies. The enclosure is now out of bounds, with over 30 employees who work with them also undergoing a rabies vaccination programme.

30 bird species; 8 cages

Ideal temperature for the birds: 20-30° C

Before the summer arrived, the bird enclave was given a complete makeover. This year the zoo has special glasshouses with agro net green shade. Besides, pipelines have been laid throughout to ensure that the water being delivered to the cages has glucose in it.

Home to exotic birds with glorious plumes, Delhi Zoo knows this is one of the favourite areas for its visitors, especially children. From the macaw, known to be extremely intelligent and curious as well as friendly, to the critically endangered Blue Edward Pheasant, Khan says, they can’t be too carefully with the diet of the birds.

For birds, special glasshouses, water pipelines delivering glucose.

The Illiger’s Macaw, endangered in the wild due to deforestation, feeds usually on seeds, fruits and nuts. During the summer, special apples and water melons are provided to keep them cool.

For the Golden Pheasant, who usually live in small groups and are a hit as they prefer to run rather than fly, the diet is green vegetable salad, bread, chana sattu and gauva.

The macaw has been provided a special wooden area near the water to give it a feel of its natural habitat. “This is to ensure that they keep coming to drink water,” Khan says.

The curator says there is another reason he and his staff at the bird enclosure are excited this summer. The zoo is expecting eggs of at least 24 exotic birds to hatch soon. The arrival of these chicks is being monitored closely at the hospital. The Silver and Golden Pheasant have laid over a dozen eggs each, with an incubation period of 20 days.

“We must monitor the temperature as well as humidity levels,” smiles Khan.

200 employees

Over 50 of them work in the animal section, which is the lifeline of the zoo. They take care of the feed and wellbeing of the animals.

Close behind is the security section, including over 20 employees, who keep in touch over wireless as they guard the different enclosures. A supervisor heads the team and monitors the CCTV cameras.

The garden section has over 20 employees, responsible for greenery at the zoo. They also maintain the small vermin compost unit to meet the zoo’s manure requirements.

It is the garden section which has the oldest employee at the zoo. Mahender ‘Mali’, who is over 60 years of age, has been keeping this part of the Capital green for years. “For me, zoo is home,” says Mahender. “I will be retiring soon, but I wish to continue contributing.”

Around 4 pm, as the visitors hasten to catch their last glimpse of the animals before the zoo shuts its gates, Riaz Khan steps out of the office for his last round of checking. Over the next 30 minutes, he enquires about animals in 12 enclosures.

By 6 pm, before heading home, the staff has kept food in enclosures for the nocturnal animals, including foxes and hyenas.

On the eastern side, some soaked grams, fruits and vegetables have been left out in a bowl.

Before long, a porcupine emerges. As the zoo quietens, it is the hour of its largest rodent to feed.

Colombo to Hamburg

Indira Gandhi was part of an ad-hoc committee of some prominent nature lovers of Delhi, headed by the “chief commissioner”, which got down to giving Delhi a zoo in 1952.

Major Weinmann, Director of the Ceylon Zoological Garden, Colombo, was invited to help draw up a coordinated plan for development of the park. He submitted a report along with a preliminary plan. As he was not available for continued consultations, the committee approached Carl Hagenbeck, owner of the famous Animal Park at Hamburg, West Germany, who gave the idea of the open moat enclosures. He presented a preliminary report in March 1956 and provided a general layout plan of waterways, roads and paths, animal enclosures and sewage system.

The Government of India approved the final plan on December 31, 1956.

Even while the final touches were being given to the zoo, state government and individuals started gifting animals. The animals, including tigers, leopards, bears, foxes, deer and birds, were initially kept in temporary enclosures around Azimganj Sarai, a courtyard built for travellers during the Mughal days.

The park was formally inaugurated on November 1, 1959.

Riaz Khan, Curator, National Zoological Park, New Delhi, for last 28 years