It’s great that visitors to the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Udyan and Zoo will soon have more reasons to be happy

Lions, National Geographic’s online resources say, require areas with reliable water sources, shade, and cover. None of these conditions match what the Byculla zoo offers. In pic, lions from Gir, Gujarat. Pic/istock

It has been a few decades since I visited the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Udyan and Zoo in Byculla. My first and last trip was managed by my school (in what feels like another life) and the idea of stopping by that beautiful venue has never crossed my mind in all the years since, presumably because it didn’t make much of an impact on me. It’s probably a great place, but I don’t foresee purchasing a ticket to it any time soon. My opinion on zoos in general has also changed since I was a child, because I think that the idea of animals trapped for our viewing pleasure is morally repugnant, but that’s just me. If that’s what makes some people happy, who am I to judge?

The reason why that zoo popped into my mind this week, however, was a report about the city’s new mayor formally requesting the Chief Minister of Gujarat to send across two pairs of........

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