ADVERTISEMENT
31 August 2010 Last updated at 03:52 GMT Help
Vets at Cairo's Giza Zoo are experimenting with birth control on their rapidly expanding population of lions.
They are taking the unusual step of giving the big cats human birth control pills after a population explosion that means there are now 53 lions at the zoo.
It is a controversial move in a zoo which has already been criticised by animal rights activists.
Boy arrested after attempting to kidnap lions from Giza Zoo
A twelve year old boy was arrested Saturday after attempting to kidnap two lion cubs from the Giza Zoo.
Friday morning, the boy walked out of the zoo with a cub and sold it for LE35 to a young man in the city of Abu al-Nemres. The boy returned to the zoo Saturday in an attempt to steal another cub, only to be caught by zoo employees who took him to the police. The suspect was referred to Juvenile Prosecution.
The police also arrested the buyer and returned the stolen cub to the zoo.
Investigations revealed that the boy took advantage of the crowds in the zoo and kidnapped one of the cubs as they were transferred from their cage to a sunny area near the fence. He placed a cub in a plastic bag and jumped over the fence without being seen.
Upon questioning, the buyer said he paid the defendant but planned on handing the cub over to the Abu al-Nemres police station after learning it was stolen.
The prosecution summoned park officials for questioning after they failed to report the first incidence of kidnapping.
Egypt's agriculture ministry has said that it is maintaining a fixed ticket price for entry to the Giza Zoo during official holidays and student field trips, state-owned MENA agency reported.
In official statements on Saturday, the Deputy Agriculture Minister for Animal Resources, Fisheries and Poultry Mona Mehrez said that the zoo’s ticket price is set at EGP 5 (around $0.28) during the week.
Several media outlets have reported that officials intend to raise ticket prices to around EGP 25 (approximately $1.40).
Mehrez said that there is a proposal to raise the price to EGP 25 for one day per week to be determined by a committee from the ministry, while maintaining the fixed price of EGP 5 for the rest of the week.
Mehrez elaborated that the revenue from the increased ticket price would be spent on developing the 127-year-old zoo.
Located near the west bank of the Nile on around 80 acres, the zoo was once one of the world's foremost zoological gardens, but has since fallen into dilapidation.
Over the years, animal rights advocates have repeatedly called for better animal care at the zoo, which hosts around 4,500 animals from 28 species.
According to zoo officials in 2017, the zoo is visited by around 1.5 million Egyptians and 200,000 foreigners yearly, with as many as 84,000 visitors a day during spring holidays.
Egypt has said that it has allocated EGP 35 million to develop zoos nationwide.
The ticket price will remain EGP 5 for the rest of the week, the agriculture ministry said
Sama Osama , Monday 25 Nov 2019
Egypt's Ministry of Agriculture clarified in a statement on Sunday that the current price of tickets for the Giza Zoo, EGP 5, will not change, explaining that the price will only be raised on Tuesdays to EGP 65.
The statement came in response to reports that the price for regular tickets would be raised to EGP 65 ($4.1).
Head of the zoo’s central administration Mohamed Ragaey explained that the zoo will open on Tuesdays, traditionally its day off, for private schools and tourist companies.
Ragaey explained that the decision was made based upon a request from tourist companies that would like to organise visits to the zoo while avoiding the regular crowds.
The price of the ticket covers the entry fee of the zoo and its museum.
He explained that the zoo will not open its doors on Tuesdays unless companies, schools or trip organisers file a prior request.
