Mangaluru: The Pilikula Biological Park authorities installed sprinklers and fans to keep cool the environs of the zoo.

The park, spread over 150 acres, houses 120 species and 1,070 animals, including birds, mammals and reptiles. Of these 397 animals in 38 species are endangered.

H Jayaprakash Bhandary, director, Pilikula Biological Park, said: “We have made provisions to bring down temperature at the zoo by installing sprinklers and fans inside animal enclosures. Each of the 50 enclosures have ponds. We are painting the roofs white with lime to help animals cope with searing heat. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) ponds were set up at the park two years ago. We are using treated water for watering plants. There are five borewells inside the park that provide drinking water. The lake inside the park used to go dry during summer. After the RWH initiative, the lake has about 20 feet of water during peak summer months which goes up to 30 feet during monsoon.”

“We also draw water from Gurupur river to meet our our needs. Salt water intrusion has stopped after construction of the check dam upstream. So we are facing no issues related to availability of water in the park,” Bhandary added.