A 500-acre nature park in Manzanilla is being developed as an extension of the Emperor Valley Zoo, Tourism Minister Gerald Hadeed said yesterday. He made the comment after visiting white Bengal tiger Rajasi and her two cubs at the Emperor Valley Zoo, Port-of-Spain. “The development of the 500-acre Manzanilla nature park will have all different types of animals.
“Right now we are working to rehabilitate the forests. When we think the park is ready for visitors we will create tracks for people to walk through,” Hadeed added. The nature park is located on Plumb Road, Manzanilla, and will allow patrons to walk or drive through while observing the animals in their natural habitat. A variety of birds, including macaws and parrots, agouti, brocket (a local deer), quenk (wild hog) and other animals, will be on show in the park.
The park will provide food for animals in the zoo as coconuts, bananas and other fruit trees have been planted there. Hadeed said 30 per cent of all food fed to the animals was produced from the park. The nature park is scheduled to be completed in five years after phase three of the zoo is finished, he said. Phase two is expected to be completed in March with the African and Asian exhibits, after which phase three, expected to cost $15 million, will begin.
Before the park can open it must meet the standards of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Gupte Lutchmedial, president of the Zoological Society of Trinidad and Tobago (ZSTT), said the nature park was 80 per cent up to standard at the moment.
Last Friday, Rajasi gave birth to two cubs in the zoo. The six-day-old cubs are still being kept in seclusion with their mother and not even the zoo’s staff have been able to inspect them to determine their sex. Once the cubs open their eyes the zoo will put them on display. Hadeed gave credit to the zoo’s staff for keeping the tigers happy and comfortable.
“What is really important, I want to applaud the employees’ dedication to the call of the zoo. They take wonderful care of all the animals,” he said. The zoo has not decided on the fate of the two cubs but Lutchmedial said there had already been requests from zoos in Argentina and Colombia for the cubs. Lutchmedial said last year it had more than 300,000 visitors and soon they would bring in black rhinos, five chimpanzees and meerkats to boost the animal stock.