TO MANAGE the extra rush of visitors gathered to see penguins on Sunday, the Byculla zoo had to suspend new entries of visitors for around 45 minutes in the evening. While the entry gates closed at 4.30 pm, they were opened again at 5.15 pm for another hour. On Saturday, the zoo opened for public viewing the enclosure for the seven Humboldt penguins brought from South Korea. There was a huge crowd on Saturday too and the zoo had to shut entry as early as 4 pm . According to zoo officials, the entry gates had to be shut for a brief period Sunday evening owing to the massive rush in the penguin exhibit area. “The crowd at both the entry and the exit gates became difficult to attend to by evening. We thus stopped the entry for a brief period to allow visitors who had been there for long to move out. The entry was opened soon after that,” said zoo director Sanjay Tripathi. By evening, more than 40,000 visitors were inside the zoo, which sees an average footfall of 5,000 visitors.
