The Alipore zoo has introduced Braille boards outside the enclosures of some of its popular residents.

The boards will help visually impaired visitors to make sense of the animals inside the enclosures. For now, 20 enclosures — including those for tiger, white tiger, lion, zebra, giraffe, elephant, peacock, leopard, chimpanzee, crocodile, hippo and kangaroo — have this facility.

Birbaha Hansda, Bengal’s forest minister, formally inaugurated the Braille boards on Sunday, celebrated as Van Mahotsav Day.

Braille is a tactile system in which raised dots represent the letters of the alphabet. It is the universally accepted system of writing used by and for blind persons.

Around 30 people with varying degrees of visual impairment visited the zoo on Sunday.

Gaur Haldar, 29, a resident of Krishnagar in Nadia, was one of them. He touched the board outside the giraffe enclosure.

“The first line which I read was ‘found in Africa’”, said Haldar, a hawker by profession who is also preparing to crack exams for government jobs.

The board has the following information: “Found in Africa; Height: 18ft; Weight: 1200-1800kg; Food: Herbivore; Life span: Up to 25 years.”

“I have visited the zoo earlier but I had to take the help of a guide who would tell me about all the animals. Today was a great experience. I could actually feel the animal right in front of me,” said Haldar.

Ashok Jadav, 31, who sells incense sticks on trains, was also among the visually impaired visitors on Sunday.

“Today, it was my first ever visit to the Alipore zoo and I was thrilled to read the Braille board,” said Jadav.

Pinki Shaw, 27, also welcomed the initiative.

“Now, apart from hearing the sound of the animals, we can read about them,” said Shaw.

The Braille boards have been set up with the help of the International Eye Bank, said Subhankar Sengupta, the director of the Alipore zoo.

“We want to take everyone along. No one should be left out. The remaining enclosures should also get such Braille boards,” said Hansda, the minister.

Niraj Singhal, the head of forest force, Bengal, accompanied the minister.

A plantation drive was also part of the celebrations on Sunday.

Chimp day

A short film on the chimpanzees of the Alipore zoo was screened on Sunday.

July 14 is also celebrated worldwide as World Chimpanzee Day. It was on July 14, 1960, that Jane Goodall, the legendary conservationist, first stepped foot in what is now Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania to study wild chimpanzees.

The zoo has four chimps. Babu, the senior citizen, is around 35 years old and still arguably the most famous and popular resident of the park. The remaining three are Buri and her brothers, Mastan and Chottu.

The three were rescued by the wildlife department from a location in Baguiati while
they were being smuggled in. This zoo became their permanent home following a
court order.