What about kissing animals through glass or standing alongside animals with a sheet of glass separating animals and visitors? The zoological park that gives these golden opportunities is not in Singapore or Taiwan but at Puthoor in Thrissur district. The expansive park coming up at Puthoor is billed as the largest such facility in south India. The park’s gallery built with reinforced glass can give visitors the best view of the animals in their habitat.
Glass view point
The viewing gallery has concrete roof and floors, and an array of bamboos makes up for the walls. The animals can only come up to the toughened glass sheet that is kept in the middle of the view gallery. The visitors can take snaps alongside the animals near the glass separation without any risk whatsoever. The animals would not be put in cages or enclosures as they would be living in their habitats with ample space to move around. Lions and tigers can co-exist in the park as if in the wilderness. A trench separates animals from the visitors, and the animals won’t be able to cross the deep and wide trench. If any animal tries to cross the trench, then it would only fall into the deep ditch. So, the park would have foolproof security for both animals and visitors.
An Australian’s design
The master plan of the Puthoor zoological park was prepared by Jon Coe, an Australian who had designed more than 100 such parks across the globe. The whole facility is being built on 300 acres of land and the zoological park would occupy 45 acres of land. In the first phase, birds, monkeys and wild buffaloes would be accommodated in four locations in the park. Living areas for lions and tigers are being constructed in the zoological park.
Daily need of nine lakh litres of water
The huge park needs nine lakh liters of water daily and the water is sourced from the Manali River. Electric vehicles would be made available inside the park and the work relating to constructing ticket counters and walls has been completed. All construction activities are being monitored by Thrissur-native K S Deepa IFS and carried out without affecting the ecological balance of the region. The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) has so far passed Rs 269 crore for the project. Chief Whip K Rajan MLA has sweated it out to make this park a reality. The construction of the park started in 2018 and the second phase would begin in December this year.
