Mumbai: The Asian Age is happy to note that acting on a report carried in the newspaper in May last year, the Byculla zoo authorities have now put up a signboard outside the python enclosure, warning visitors against throwing coins at the reptile in the name of inviting good luck. The authorities of the civic-run zoo, also called Veer Jijamata Udyan, have warned that visitors flouting the directive will have to cough up a fine of Rs 500.
This newspaper had reported on the plight of the python in the zoo where visitors used to throw one-rupee coins at it in the hope that any contact made by the coins with the reptile would bring them good luck and prosperity. After the story was published, all such idiocy is being prohibited at the zoo. So much so that when The Asian Age visited the zoo on Wednesday, the python enclosure was found well maintained with none of the visitors throwing coins.
Byzulla zoo director Dr Sanjay Tripathi said, “Despite instructions on the hoardings put up at these enclosures that such conduct will result in fines, people continued to behave ridiculously.”
“However, after the news was highlighted, such acts have stopped. More than 30 people have been fined over the past few days for spitting and troubling animals,” he said.
