The former Zoo of the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT) has not received visitors since 2019 and was taken over by vegetation. About R$3 million of parliamentary funds must be made available for transform the site into a Wild Animal Screening and Rehabilitation Center (CETRAS), open for guided tours. (understand below)
A Funds for renovation of the space are expected to arrive this year.but still there is no set date for reopening. According to the director of the university’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Favet), Roberto Lopes, the amount will be allocated to restructuring enclosures and purchasing cold rooms for storing food for animals.
“After removing the animals, we will be able to renovate enclosures to receive other animals sent from Ibama rescued from trafficking, car accidents or fires,” he explained.
In 2015, the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) demanded that the space meet fauna management standards and, as the determination was not met, the old zoo was closed. At the time, around 2 thousand animals were transferred to other shelters and, currently, there are 300 animals living on site.
“Our old UFMT zoo did not obey any of these rules and it could never have been called a zoo. It was actually an animal asylum”, explained Roberto.
Around 300 animals still live in the former UFMT zoo
Roberto told the g1 that the sidewalk collapseO aging of animals and the inadequacy of premises contributed to the zoo being closed by Ibama. He further highlighted that “Society has also evolved and people no longer want to go to the zoo to see animals in cages.”
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