Rebirth for fallen trees at city zoo

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Fallen trees on the Museum compound have got a novel touch as they are now being used as benches for the visitors and as a means to enrich the animal and bird kingdom at the zoo. “Usually, the fall of trees is reported to the Forest Department and the procedures of its valuations and tender follows. After long, these trees will be removed from the area. It might take months or years to complete the procedure of valuation, revaluation and tenders. By then they would have began to rot or would have been eaten up by termites,” says Udayavarman, Director of Department of Museums and Zoos.He says, “Lately, a few rain trees had fallen down and with the permission granted from the Government authorities, we decided to make use of these trees for these purpose.”Instead of this long drawnout process of getting it removed from the property, they thought of making use of such wood in the making wooden benches for the visitors at the zoo and also to use hollow tree trunks for some of the animals.“As of now, the zoo has only one Malabar giant squirrel, but in the near future we plan to bring pairs of these squirrels to the zoo for breeding. As they will be many in number some of these trees with hollow trunks would be an apt wooden shelter for them especially in the summers,” says Dr Jacob Alexander, Veterinary Doctor at the Museum.Other trees are to be cut into desired shapes necessary for the making of wooden benches.