KUWAIT: With widespread public dissatisfaction at the state and conditions of Kuwait's one existing extremely old-fashioned zoo in Omariya , the Public Authority for Agriculture and Fish Resources (PAAFR) is planning to build a new, more humane safari park-style facility to the west of Jahra City.

The new safari zoo will be more modern in design, with the animals allowed to roam freely whilst the human visitors will only be able to travel through it by car or in specially designed trains, although there will be indoor facilities too which visitors will be able to view using the latest technology.

The Municipal Council has already approved the proposed site for the new facility, explained Yousef Al-Najem, the director of Kuwait Zoo: "It will be located on a 16,000 square meter site, sixteen times the size of the current zoo," he told the Kuwait Times. "The zoo will be established under the BOT [Build Operate Transfer] system, and will add to the existing entertainment facilities in the country.

The PAAFR is currently conducting a number of studies on the best layout for the new zoo, Al-Najem continued, adding, "The research won't take long to carry out, but the problem lies in the execution. The research is carried out by the investor, then sent to the Municipal Council for approval. The good thing is that the new safari zoo won't cost the government more money.

The animals currently at the present zoo will be transferred to the new facility, Al-Najem explained. "The animals will be transferred from the zoo in Omariya to the new one. The zoo will include animals from different environments such as the tropical or the cold one, and we will prepare similar environments to those which they came from.

The new zoo will also bring more animals from other zoos that we have an agreement with. For instance, Kuwait Zoo has an animal exchange program with the Korean Zoo, from which we brought the leopard and we exchanged it with deer that were bred here.

The old zoo won't be completely abandoned, however, the director revealed. "It will be turned into to some other useful facility. We are not sure yet, but the PAAFR is planning to change it to an aquarium or an insect zoo. Kuwait signed the CITES [Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species] Treaty on wild fauna and flora to protect plants and animals. And for this purpose the current zoo will serve this goal. At the present zoo we've succeeded to breed many of the animals who are in danger of extinction such as the European wolf, Maha, and others. - Kuwait Times