Kumasi, April 21, GNA - Professor Dominic Fobih, the Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, has said it was disheartening that most Ghanaians, in the planning of their holidays, do not consider visiting the zoo.

This, he said, was because the zoos in Accra and Kumasi have lost their former glory hence people look down on them.

Prof Fobih was speaking at the re-launch of the Kumasi Zoo in Kumasi on Friday following the relocation of animals from the Accra Zoo to Kumasi.

The minister said though there were numerous benefits derived from Zoos there was a wide gap between revenue accruing in the form of gate fees and the cost of maintaining the Zoos.

Prof Fobih stated that in spite of those difficulties, the zoos had to be kept hence the relocation.

He said the transfer was not a way to stall the plan for Accra to have a zoo but said the government had plans to construct a public zoo at a location in the Achimota forest. Madam Patricia Appiagyei, Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, promised the Zoo Management that the Kumasi Zoo, which had lost its glory, would be restored.

She said the Hydraulic Service Department of Urban Roads Department had been awarded a contract to de-silt the drainage system at the Zoo to prevent flooding in the Zoo. The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) would also ensure all roads leading to the zoo were maintained to make the place accessible. Torgbi Kporku II, chief of Alakple and Chairman of the Accra Zoo Advisory Board, said many people visited the Accra Zoo as a source of entertainment and that Kumasi could also revitalize the zoo to attract tourists.

He appealed to the Kumasi Management Board to set up Friends of the National Zoo, a group that would help maintain the Zoo. Mr Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah, Ashanti Regional Minister in a speech read for him, appealed to the youth to spend their leisure periods at the zoo rather than at clubs and other entertaining centres that might make them sexually promiscuous. Professor John Owusu Addo, Chairman of the Kumasi Advisory Board of the Zoo, said the Board was redesigning the Kumasi Zoo and was thinking of stuffing it with other animals such as buffalos, elephants among others.

He appealed to the public, especially individuals, clans as well as companies who recognize some animals as their totems to adopt the animals and help cater for them.