The Byculla zoo welcomed visitors on Monday after remaining shut for several months due to the COVID outbreak. While 1,419 people visited the premises, most eyes were glued on Shakti and Karishma, a tiger pair that were brought to the city last year. Civic officials justified the low footfall saying the zoo reopened on a working day.

Officials at the zoo, also known as Veer Mata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, said the tiger pair was brought from Aurangabad and had been kept in quarantine for almost a year. The zoo had planned to showcase them on March 25 last year, but as the coronavirus-induced lockdown kicked in, the premises remained out of bounds for outsiders.