A cordoned-off area where work has already begun.
A view of the cages that house the monkeys.
Photos: KARLA RAMOO

It got its name from the blue emperor morpho butterfly, which lived in large quantities in the valley during the early 1950s. Today, Emperor Valley Zoo remains the main zoo in Trinidad and Tobago, and although many criticise and condemn it, it boasts of more than 1,300 animals from the region, and provides recreation, leisure and education to an estimated quarter million visitors each year. Its main objective is to educate and promote public awareness.

Nestled among an assortment of trees and vegetation such as pink and yellow poui, black olive, sapodilla, balata, tamarind and jacaranda, the zoo is situated north of Queen’s Park Savannah and west of the Botanic Gardens in Port-of-Spain. The zoo will celebrate its 57th anniversary on November 8, and is undergoing a transformation, which began a week after Tourism Minister Joseph Ross made the announcement during the sod-turning ceremony on April 3. The upgrade comes almost 20 months after Howard Chin Lee, former Tourism Minister, revealed the Government’s intention to bring the country’s only recognised zoo up to international standards.

At a cost of $56 million, the public will benefit from added facilities, improved infrastructure for the animals and an overall facelift. Last month, representatives of the Zoological Society of T&T (ZSTT), Gupte Lutchmedial and Nadra Nathai-Gyan, who are responsible for managing the zoo, and its curator, Nirmal Biptah, explained how the upgrade will be carried out and what the public could expect during the next two years. Although seated in an air-conditioned office of the zoo, the distant sounds of the animals were inevitable.

Lutchmedial, president of the ZSTT, said the zoo upgrade would be done in about 14 phases over a two-year period. “Phase one has already begun, with the area being cordoned off and the animals being relocated. The work is scheduled to be done over two years.” He said most of the animals have been relocated with the least amount of stress and interruption and said it was a learning process for the zookeepers, whom he said were “not degree-trained.”

Added facilities
Work in phase one included relocating the giant river otter, the flamingoes, hummingbirds, water fowls and removal of several old cages. The six acres of land that the zoo occupies will remain open to the public, and work will be done with minimal disruption to visitors. The dilapidated buildings opposite the zoo will soon have to be relocated. “We want to keep the facility alive and do the work in phases,” Lutchmedial said. He added that most zoos did not close their doors to the public unless they were building a new zoo, “so we are using the same method they use away.”

He said people would adapt to the changes because of the phases. Patrick Janikowski has been hired as designer for the project. He has contributed to zoo design for almost 15 years and worked on projects throughout the United States, Africa, Asia and Europe. His project experience encompasses master plans, exhibit design and animal holdings, as well as interpretive centres and theme parks. Included in the upgrade would be a discovery centre, refurbished parking facilities and a ticket booth. Lutchmedial said the discovery centre would take the shape of the morpho butterfly, and would include a theatre to accommodate 110 people, a rotating exhibit centre, press rooms, concession area and a museum.

“The discovery centre and car park would take about 40 to 50 per cent of the $56 million allocated for the upgrade.” The facility is expected to generate sustainable income. Lutchmedial said the intention was to have the discovery centre open until 9 pm, so parents would have a safe and informative environment to take their children. “They can come here and have a cup of coffee or a snack, while their children enjoy a green, secured atmosphere.”
He also said there would be an information centre with “a database of everything in T&T.”

Lutchmedial and Nathai-Gyan said the new zoo would be built with children in mind. “With crime levels all over the world, people want to go to safe places, and zoos all over the world capitalise on that, because a zoo environment can provide a safe haven for families,” he said. The introduction of elephants, giraffes, etc, is hardly likely, because of limited space and resources. Nathai-Gyan said, “We’ll bring new animals, but it will be within a geographical range, because the main purpose of the zoo is to educate the public about, first and foremost, our local, indigenous and neo-tropical species.

“We will bring new animals, but they will be from the neo-tropical region—South America—where we have our geographical connections, and it will also be animals of a certain size, because our space here is not expanding.” Lutchmedial said transferring animals from their natural habitat to another place was “not the right thing to do. According to new international standards, five acres was needed for one elephant, and by modern-day geometric measurements, the zoo measures about six acres, and not 15, as in the old days.

About ZSTT
The Zoological Society of T&T celebrated its 62nd anniversary on April 23, and patrons were allowed free entry to the zoo. It was on April 23, 1947, the ZSTT was founded, and five years later became a legal entity with all the rights and privileges of a body corporate. On November 8, 1952, the zoo opened its gates to the public, and has not been closed since. The ZSTT works with the Manatee Conservation Trust, the Wildlife Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Marine Resources, foreign zoos, the Rotary Club of San Juan, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Zoological Association of America and National Aquarium in Baltimore, among other organisations.

Training Programmes
Lutchmedial said the zoo should be the main organisation looking after animal welfare in society, because “we have workers who are the best-trained with animals. “Our workers may not be degree people, or foreign-trained, but they acquired the knowledge after some 20 to 30 years working at the zoo.”
Nadra Nathai-Gyan, a consultant, has been conducting full-time classes for the zookeepers to bring them up to par with international standards.

“We do a continuous training for the keepers in-house, where we identify the gaps in their training.” Upon completion of a three-month training session, they were certified by foreign tutors, representatives of the Veterinary School or the Wildlife Division. Lutchmedial said the zoo tried to invest in training the staff “with money we sometimes don’t have.” He said T&T had no facilities to train people to work in a zoo.