The three-week-long lockdown might have made people annoyed being forced to stay indoors, but this has become a boon to the inmates of the Kolkata zoo as there is nobody to disturb the animals now and they appear to be cheerful.

After the authorities of the Alipur Zoological Garden barred entry of visitors on March 17 to avoid large gatherings, the compound has become unusually empty.

Over 6,000 people had visited the zoo on the last Sunday, March 15, before its closure.

A cleaning drive at Alipore zoo PTI

The 1,270 odd animals such as tigers, lions, elephants, zebras, giraffes, reptiles and birds are being taken good care of by only a handful employee mainly those who feed them, a senior zoo official told PTI on Saturday.

'With the number of visitors coming to zero, the animals - especially tigers, chimpanzees and zebras - are not facing the usual crowding before their enclosures. They seem to be happy as they are not disturbed,' he said.

A section of visitors to the zoos in the country are insensitive to animals, the official said adding that they indulge in forbidden activities like teasing and feeding animals.

The lockdown over coronavirus outbreak did not pose any problem for procuring food for the inmates of the zoo.

'We have made arrangements so that food supply for carnivores, herbivores, birds and reptiles can continue even during the lockdown period,' the official said.

'The employees who are feeding the animals now are following precautions against coronavirus wearing masks and donning gloves,' he said.

The deer population at the Eco Park, which is also out of bound for visitors now, is also being looked after well by the authorities.

The Eco Park has nine barking deer, including a fawn born a couple of months ago, and 17 spotted deer.

They are kept in separate enclosures and doing fine, one of the staff involved in the upkeep of animals there said.

A top forest official said closure notices were put across all reserve forests, sanctuaries and zoological parks in West Bengal and will remain in force till the government issues another advisory.

'We will meet on March 30 to review the situation,' he said.

About the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest and a tiger reserve, he said a footfall of 5,000-6,000 during offseason in February-March has come to zero after it was closed for visitors in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

'In any case, we don't allow tourists or any human intrusion into the mangrove forest area where tigers live during the season. Tourists can only see them from a distance from vessels, the official said.

There are around 90 tigers in the Sunderbans at present.