200 species of animals greet you at Bhavan’s Nature and Adventure Centre

Red-and-green macaw named Goldie, is a celebrity at Bhavan’s Colleges ‘World of Pets’ exhibition. It is one among the many American origin birds that have made Bhavan’s Nature and Adventure Centre, Andheri their home until May 1.

At present, there are more than 200 species of such animals and birds that have travelled all the way from African continent, Australia, China and other countries for the show.

This exhibition of exotic birds and animals, is first of its kind and is priced at Rs 100-150 per person.

On the first day itself, the exhibition has attracted large number of school kids. “With us, we have around 30 kids and we have come from Thane,” said the teacher of a Thane-based school. More schools kids are expected to attend this exhibition as schools have their summer vacations.

This exhibition started on April 27 and most of these exotic species have arrived. But on the first day there were some hiccups as some animals have specific needs like air-conditioned or cooler rooms, which the organiser has not been able to provide. In one of rooms where the dogs were kept was quite warm. When quizzed Animal Friends Welfare Association’s team who is assisting the centre with these dogs, said, “There are fans kept for the dogs for now. But we are expecting the coolers to start soon.” This is the first time the association is participating in such an exhibition. A member from the association said they plan to bring different breeds of dogs throughout the five days as they don't want to stress the dogs. There are also various breeds of cats as well.

Arkari Tokan, Stellas, number of African parrots, multi colour birds of Kanoor species, love birds of palm size, finches with their multiple species, exotic colorful chickens etc have been part of this five-day event. The exhibition will have more than 30 mini aquariums decorated with the real trees. It will have more than 100 species of fish on the display and more than 30 species of sea fish on the show.