Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The endless zoo saga

After many false promises going back years there was a report last July that Dubai's new zoo was being constructed.

"Construction of a huge new zoo will start in August...all the animals at the existing Dubai Zoo in Jumeirah will be moved by the end of this year to the new and much bigger zoo being built in DubaiLand...the core zoo will be built within three months after construction starts in August."

I posted about that back on July 30th.

It sounded genuine, it was all finalised, land had been allocated, private investors were being invited to participate, visitor chalets were being built, a botanic garden was being included...

Then it all went very quiet.

Until today.

A small panel in Gulf News records that Dubai Municipality "hope we will be allotted a piece of land in Dubailand within a couple of weeks."

Hope.

That's positive isn't it. I hope I'll win the lottery.

So the latest news is that nothing's actually happened. The design for the zoo is ready - but as the land hasn't been allocated how do they know the design will work? Maybe it's too big for the land they'll eventually get. If they get it.

Meanwhile the 1,100-plus animals remain crowded into their appalling little prisons, which remains a blot on Dubai's reputation.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I will personally write a letter of praise, grattitude and stunned disbelief to Sheikh Mohamed when the animals of Dubai Zoo are finally relocted to a decent & suitable environment in Dubai... I'm keeping all my fingers and toes crossed on this one.