ZSTT: Chickland Site Not Suitable for Zoo

The Zo­o­log­i­cal So­ci­ety of Trinidad and Tobago (ZSTT) says it is not fea­si­ble to re­lo­cate the Emperor Valley Zoo to Chick­land in Cen­tral Trinidad.

On Monday, the ZSTT stated: “Cab­i­net had rec­om­mend­ed that a de­tailed fea­si­bil­i­ty study be done and this was com­plet­ed in April 2009 by Lee Young and Part­ners, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Min­istry of Tourism.

“The site was not rec­om­mend­ed for the es­tab­lish­ment of a Zo­o­log­i­cal Park.”

The statement added, “Fol­low­ing this, the ZSTT in late 2009 ac­cept­ed an of­fer from a mem­ber of the ZSTT joint­ly with the com­mu­ni­ty-based Man­a­tee Con­ser­va­tion Trust of a 360-acre par­cel of agri­cul­tur­al land in Brig­and Hill, Man­zanil­la for an off­site fa­cil­i­ty.

“This Brig­and Hill fa­cil­i­ty is op­er­a­tional and serves to house sur­plus an­i­mals from the Em­per­or Val­ley Zoo, seized and con­fis­cat­ed an­i­mals from the il­le­gal wildlife trade and oth­er an­i­mals in need of re­ha­bil­i­ta­tion.”

Calls for the zoo’s re­lo­ca­tion came af­ter birds and a kan­ga­roo died the days fol­low­ing the In­de­pen­dence Day fire­works dis­play at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah on August 31.

On Sunday, Sou Sou Lands chair­man Lenny Sankers­ingh renewed his offer to the zoo of 40 acres of land from a 393-acre site.