Workmen under Government's Lift Up Jamaica programme on site at the Hope Zoo, where they are installing a boundary wall around the entire compound. - Contributed A MAJOR re-development plan is in the making for the Hope Gardens in St. Andrew, which houses Jamaica's premier botanical gardens, making it an even more attractive and modern place to visit.
The Hope Zoo, which is one of the main attractions at the Hope Estate is part of the re-development thrust and Government's Lift Up Jamaica programme has jump-started the rehabilitation programme there.
Under the Lift Up project, new perimeter fencing measuring some 650 metres long and 3 metres high is being built around the entire Zoo compound.
The project, which is scheduled to run over eight weeks, is budgeted to cost a total of J$7.3 million. It is now in its final stages and a trek into the hilly areas behind the zoo entrance will reveal a team of over 80 young men and women from the Land Lease area working assiduously to complete their task.
Acting curator at the Hope Zoo, Orlando Robinson, welcomes the new perimeter wall. He says the zoo was not sufficiently secure. The provision of the fence will primarily enhance the security of the compound thus keeping unwanted intruders, as well as stray dogs and cows out of the property.
It will also help to reduce the health risk posed by stray animals to the kept ones.
With regard to the overall development plans for the zoo Mr. Robinson says it was also critical to have the wall erected now in order to enclose and secure the property before the construction and expansion began. The wall, he says, is therefore facilitating the process and will allow the developers to proceed with implementation of the plan.
The Hope Zoo was built in 1961. It currently occupies some 17 acres of the Hope Estate, some of which has been left in a natural state. The expansion and modernisation plan includes both re-development and modernisation of the infrastructure as well as an increase in the animal inventory.
The acting curator envisages the use of more space to improve the exhibits and, in keeping with modern trends, to place the animals in a more natural setting.
The improved zoo, he says will be designed around three themes - the Jamaican, African Outpost and the South American Jungle. Animals on exhibition in the zoo will come from those areas and will include lions, zebras, various monkeys, birds and water animals.
The Hope Zoo project is one of over 600 undertaken to date under the Lift Up Jamaica programme. Others include the refurbishing and/or construction of basic schools, public cemeteries, sanitary conveniences, sidewalks and drains, community centres and parks.
