Cebu Zoo gets P10M budget for development

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government has allocated P10 million for the development of Cebu Zoo, which the Parks and Playground Commission has already started.

Parks and Playground Commission executive director Librando Macaraya said development project coincides with the city’s celebration yesterday of the First World Wildlife Day.

Macaraya said the celebration was done to raise awareness on the intrinsic values and contributions of wild animals and plants, particularly endangered species.

Part of the development is the possible renaming of the zoo to “Cebu Botanical and Wildlife Center.”

“Zoo connotes caged animals man gud. Ato usab i-highlight ang mga indigenous plants o mga tanom na gikan sa Cebu ug padak-an nato ang mga cages sa mga animals based sa standard sa PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals),” said Macaraya.

For now, Macaraya said they are already at 10 percent of the development project as they have already constructed a nursery room for the indigenous plants and a view deck for the 7.6-hectare zoo.

The PPC official said they will no longer highlight the so-called “snake massage,” which the zoo is known for and is even getting income from it.

“Ato siyang ibalik sa iyang habitat. Nahimo na siyang source of income and it’s not really a massage man gyud,” Macaraya said.

By snake massage, tourists will lie down on a bed while huge snakes, which are taken out from their cage, will crawl and supposedly massage the person’s body, said Cebu Zoo manager Giovanni Romarate.

Romarate, however, is not amenable to Macaraya’s plan of stopping the snake massage.

Romarate explained that they are not after the income from the “snake massage,” their main purpose is to educate the people about the snake and other species inside the zoo.

“We aim to educate the people that snakes are actually not slimy and dangerous when already trained, and that a crocodile’s skin is not hard, sama sa atong pagtuo,” Romarate explained, saying that a foreign tourist coined the term snake massage.  (FREEMAN)