Chennai: The electric incinerator which was constructed at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park has started functioning. The facility was built at a cost of Rs 20 lakh.
A zoo official said animals that die inside the zoo due to various reasons including ageing and diseases were disposed in open cremation all these years.
“Animals from scheduled species were cremated in the open and the smaller non scheduled animals were buried. Though this has been practised for several years, there are risks of spreading of diseases and also fire may spread during cremation. Keeping all this in mind a proposal to set up an electric incinerator was sent,” the official added.
The official further said the work began after getting proper approval and has been completed now. “A few corpses were burnt in the incinerator recently to check its functioning,” the official said.
Sources said that apart from the animals that die inside the zoo premises, those brought in for autopsy and other dead wild animals too will be brought to the zoo for cremation.