Snake Park in Chennai may result in closure as Covid-19 lockdown hits income

The park is a house for unique species of turtles, lizards, 300 reptiles and 20 species of snakes. Picture: IE

The long-lasting snake park in Tamil Nadu’s Chennai is on the verge of closure because the Covid-19 lockdown resulted in suspension of tourists. This has led to the park not having any earnings, a report by The IE citing the park’s administration mentioned. It’s to notice that the park has been within the metropolis for almost 5 a long time. In 1972, the park was based by Herpetologist Romus Whitaker and is a house for unique species of turtles, lizards, 300 reptiles and 20 species of snakes.

In keeping with the administration of the Chennai Snake Park Belief, the place has not seen any customer since March 2020 following a Covid-19 induced lockdown. As a consequence of this, the administration is now struggling to pay its employees or keep the park. In reality, feeding the reptiles current there has turn into troublesome. The park has additionally witnessed downsizing as 20 employees members had been employed right here earlier than the pandemic hit and now this quantity has gone all the way down to 10. In reality, the people who find themselves working listed here are solely getting half their wage for greater than a yr now.

Dr S Paulraj, government chairman of the Belief instructed The IE that every one financial savings are being exhausted to handle the park as a result of there was no earnings. Pualraj mentioned that sustaining a park with animals is way completely different from working a enterprise. Even when there isn’t a enterprise, the reptiles should be fed. He highlighted that the park acquired a footfall of round 5,000 to six,000 individuals on weekdays which was greater than 10,000 on weekends earlier than Covid-19 hit the nation. At the moment, the park might simply generate round Rs 75 lakh yearly and an earnings of Rs 6 lakh per 30 days. Of the overall month-to-month earnings, Rs 4 lakh was used for salaries of workers and Rs 2 lakh was used to feed the reptiles.

Because the park was solely depending on ticket gross sales for income, the lockdown influence was fairly dangerous. Even when the state authorities lifted some restrictions for a brief time period after the primary lockdown, there was not sufficient footfall for them to outlive, the report mentioned. After this, the park survived on some donations that it acquired from NGOs as a part of their CSR actions together with their very own financial savings.

Nevertheless, going ahead, there’s a scarcity of funds. In keeping with Paulraj, after 10 years, the park was capable of enhance the breeding of the critically endangered Gangetic Gharial. However now they don’t have the means to guard it or present nutritious meals that’s wanted.

To make sure, the park comes beneath a non-profit organisation and subsequently, it doesn’t obtain any funding from the federal government, or different wildlife sanctuaries within the state. In the meantime, they’re hoping that Tamil Nadu authorities and different volunteers donate funds which can be utilized to run the park.